AER backs down from claim public hearings are its intellectual property

By Alex McCuaig

The Alberta Energy Regulator has withdrawn its copyright claims against Community TV’s broadcast of the Grassy Mountain coal mine hearings.

Those claims resulted in Community TV’s broadcast of the public hearings being removed from its broadcast platforms.

The hearings featured dozens of Albertans testifying both in support and opposition of development of the Grassy Mountain mine and was held on Tuesday and Wednesday in Pincher Creek.

 The public hearings were openly broadcast live on the Internet.

The hearing committee chair stated recording and broadcast of those proceedings was “strictly prohibited” and a watermark on the live and publicly available feed read, “recording of AER webcasts are prohibited.”

Community TV’s position is the AER does not have the legal authority to place restrictions on a public hearing broadcast live on a public transmission medium. Nor would such restrictions be practicably enforceable by the AER since the public body has no jurisdiction outside the boundaries of Alberta.

Late Thursday, AER filed claims to Facebook and YouTube that Community TV’s broadcast of the coal mine hearings constituted a breach of its intellectual property.

The AER reversed that position on Friday with YouTube reinstating Community TV’s broadcast with indications Facebook will follow suit.

The Grassy Mountain coal mine development has been a hotly debated topic in the Crowsnest Pass, southern Alberta and across the province.

Community TV is seeking a public apology from AER for interrupting its freedom of expression Charter rights in providing information about that debate.