TekSavvy takes GoldTV site-blocking fight to Supreme Court

After Canada's first-ever site-blocking court order survived an appeal from TekSavvy Solutions Inc. in May, the internet service provider (ISP) has decided to take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC). In an application for leave to appeal filed with the Supreme Court of Canada on Wednesday, TekSavvy wrote that the GoldTV issue "alters the landscape for copyright enforcement online." Because site-blocking order for copyright-infringing content is, TekSavvy argues, "effectively a final remedy, judicial recognition of site-blocking risks displacing and overtaking Parliament’s carefully-crafted statutory regime for copyright remedies." "This Court’s guidance is required to clarify the proper roles for courts and Parliament in determining what means are available for copyright enforcement," TekSavvy's memorandum of argument reads. In May, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a lower court's November 2019 order originally sought by a consortium of rights-holders -- BCE Inc., Quebecor Inc., and Rogers Communications Inc. -- which mandated a number of ISPs to block a pirate-IPTV service known as GoldTV, marking the first time such an order had ever been issued in Canada. The GoldTV case represents the third time Canada's largest rights holders have tried to implement some type of site-blocking regime to protect their content. In 2018, the CRTC rejected a proposal from a coalition of rights-holders known as FairPlay -- which included Bell, Quebecor, Rogers, Corus Entertainment Inc., and CBC/Radio-Canada -- that sought to establish a site-blocking regime through the regulator. The telecom companies and broadcasters then went to the House of Commons Industry committee to seek support for a site-blocking regime with legislative authority -- a regime that never materialized. An April consultation document released by the Liberal Government did, however, propose site-blocking as a reform in any future update to the Copyright Act. With the original GoldTV decision, the rights-holders have achieved judicial authority for mandated site-blocking. The companies behind the GoldTV blocking order quickly consolidated their position. Later, the same three companies went back to the court asking for a new "dynamic" blocking order, which would block a rolling list of IP addresses associated with pirate streaming of National Hockey League broadcasts in real-time. Open internet advocacy organization OpenMedia launched a campaign against site-blocking a day after the Federal Court of Appeal upheld the GoldTV blocking order. In TekSavvy's fresh appeal to the SCC, the company asks whether or not the Federal Court can issue such a blocking order, and if it can, what "what analytical framework governs its use, and how must this framework account for the impact of such an order on freedom of expression?" — Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Hannah Daley at hdaley@thewirereport.ca

TekSavvy takes GoldTV site-blocking fight to Supreme Court

Broadcast | August 26, 2021

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TekSavvy takes GoldTV site-blocking fight to Supreme Court

Broadcast | August 26, 2021

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