Hockey broadcasters seek injunction against pirate streamers

Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc., and Quebecor Inc. are asking a Federal Court for a permanent injunction against a set of unknown users of IP addresses that the companies say are being used to facilitate the illegal streaming of NHL hockey games. In a statement of claim filed Monday with the Federal Court in Montreal the three companies -- filing under the names of their media properties that broadcast the games -- ask the court for an injunction against the defendants, which are listed as John Doe 1, and John Doe 2. The filing instead names six separate IP addresses associated with John Doe 1, and one IP address associated with John Doe 2. While the IP addresses are located in Canada, the games were streamed using servers located in Russia, the Seychelles, and with hosting providers in the Seychelles, the Netherlands, Ukraine, and Hong Kong. They are streamed via the sites livetotal.tv, usagoals.video, and an "unauthorized subscription service" called ComstarTV. "Unless restrained by this honourable court, the defendants will continue their aforesaid infringing activities and the Plaintiffs will continue to suffer damages," the companies wrote in their filing with the court. The three companies wrote that they "are currently unaware of the full extent of the defendants’ participation in the development, maintaining and updating of the Unauthorized Streaming Servers, or of any similar service, but claim in respect of all such infringing activities." In a statement emailed to the Wire Report, a lawyer jointly representing the three companies declined to say precisely how the companies would seek to enforce an injunction order, or whether or not they would seek a site-blocking order if an injunction against the two unknown defendants was unsuccessful. "Hockey broadcast piracy is a growing and ongoing issue that requires attention as illegal pirated content causes Canadian content creators and distributors incalculable damages annually," the statement from lawyers representing the company read. The action, the statement continued, "was very recently launched and the plaintiffs are currently still attempting to serve the Statement of Claim upon the defendants. Given the nature of the defendants and of their activities, the plaintiffs cannot provide comments at this stage." The companies also Monday submitted a request to the court for a confidentiality direction, or an order on an expedited basis "to allow them to bring a confidential motion for the issuance of an interlocutory injunction," according to the letter's text. The court agreed Tuesday, allowing the companies to file confidential materials in support of their application for an interlocutory injunction in the case. The companies involved in this current effort to stop illegal streaming are the same three involved in Canada's first-ever site-blocking order in a case known as GoldTV, named for the so-called "pirate IPTV" service in that case. — Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca

Hockey broadcasters seek injunction against pirate streamers

Broadcast | June 17, 2021

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Hockey broadcasters seek injunction against pirate streamers

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