Unpacking the German SUNO Decision for a Canadian Audience

Online activity on TEAMS

 

Date: Monday November 19, 2026, from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM (Montreal time)

One hour of Continuing Legal Education

 

Description:

Last July, the Munich District Court rendered its judgement in the case opposing GEMA to the US provider SUNO.  Its willingness to assert its jurisdiction to hear the case and to interpret the US concept of fair use has sent shock waves around the copyright community.  Our panelists will explain the decision and its implications for our understanding of the direction in which copyright may be going… or not!

Costs (taxes not included):

Free for students

Free for "Adhesion +" members

$60.00 for members of ALAI Canada (you must be log in to see this to have access to this fee)

$120.00 for non-members

 

Guest panelists :

Jan Bernd Nordemann is a partner of the German intellectual property law firm NORDEMANN and works at its Berlin and Potsdam office, where he specializes in copyright. Jan is considered one of the leading German copyright lawyers. He is a co-editor and co-author of one of the leading German copyright treatises FROMM/ NORDEMANN (13^th edition 2024) and as the editor of the leading German collection of national, EU and international copyright laws and treaties (22^nd edition 2026). Since 1999, Jan Bernd Nordemann lectures at the Humboldt University Berlin mainly on copyright and was awarded an honorary professorship.

Paul Goldstein is the Lillick Professor of Law Emeritus at Stanford Law School. A globally recognized expert on intellectual property law, he is the author of a five-volume treatise on U.S. copyright law and a one-volume treatise on international copyright law. He has authored twelve books including five novels.

In 2015 Goldstein was inducted by Intellectual Asset Management into the IP Hall of Fame, which honors those who have helped to establish intellectual property as one of the key business assets of the 21st century. He has been regularly included in Best Lawyers in America, and served as chairman of the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment Advisory Panel on Intellectual Property Rights in an Age of Electronics and Information. He has been a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright, and Competition Law in Munich, Germany and was a founding faculty member of the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center.

Barry Sookman is a senior counsel in the Technology Law Group. Former leader of the firm’s Intellectual Property group. One of Canada’s foremost authorities in copyright, information technology, AI, Internet, and privacy law. Acts in connection with complex AI/IT/IP transactions and defense procurements and in AI/IT/IP litigation. Has argued numerous precedent-setting cases at all levels of courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Author’s blog at www.barrysookman.com. Professional memberships included Copyright Committee PTIC, ALAI, Advisory Board roles with Macdonald Laurier Institute, Connected Minds and IP Osgoode.