Federal Court dings hotel rebroadcasters for copyright infringement against Quebecor

Quebecor Inc. has won a copyright infringement case against a trio of companies the Federal Court as agreed was illegally broadcasting Quebecor's TVA Sports channels in hotels. In a May 26 decision, Justice Sébastien Grammond ordered the three companies – Coopérative de câblodistribution Hill Valley, Konek Technologies Inc., and Libéo Inc. – to pay Quebecor some $553,000 in damages, and immediately cease broadcasting the sports channel. The companies had been streaming Quebecor's TVA Sports and rebroadcasting it as part of the companies' services for hotel television systems. "TVA Group never authorized these services to retransmit the signal for the TVA Sports channels, and according to the evidence submitted at the trial, these services are likely illegal," Grammond wrote. In a Monday press release, Quebecor wrote that "Mindful of the importance of copyright protection for safeguarding the work of artists and creators in the television industry, Videotron takes note of the Court's condemnation of the practices of the defendant companies and one of their shareholders. They can no longer act with impunity," Quebecor wrote. The defendant companies had argued that through their exempt BDU status conferred by the CRTC, they were entitled to rebroadcast Quebecor's TVA Sports. They cited the standstill rule, which prohibits a broadcaster from yanking a signal in the middle of a commercial negotiation. Grammond determined "it is clear that this provision only applies when an agreement already exists between the broadcaster and the BDU, which is not the situation in this case." The defendants also cited the "undue preference" and "undue advantage" provisions of the CRTC's Discretionary Services Regulations, but Grammond determined that the defendant companies did not "clearly explain" how Quebecor's refusal to grant ja rebroadcast license amounted to an undue disadvantage, "considering that they had distributed the TVA Sports channels without TVA Group’s consent." The judge also rejected a third argument, in which the defendants cited rule 15.02 of the Broadcast Distribution Regulations, in which the CRTC decided that a BDU can transmit a new programming service while waiting for an agreement to be reached with the broadcaster. TVA Sports is not new, the judge wrote. Back in June, 2022, Quebecor had requested that the CRTC revoke the companies exempt broadcast distribution undertaking status, a request the CRTC ultimately denied in December. In awarding damages, the court awarded $500 for each of the 1,090 TVA Sports programs the three hotel BDUs showed for $545,000, plus $1 for each of the 8,000 of the TVA before Feb. 3, 2021 (when the CRTC granted Hill Valley its exempt BDU status) for an additional $8,000. — Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca

Federal Court dings hotel rebroadcasters for copyright infringement against Quebecor

Broadcast | May 30, 2023

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Federal Court dings hotel rebroadcasters for copyright infringement against Quebecor

Broadcast | May 30, 2023

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Related Stories

CRTC launches consult on providing more info to consumers shopping for internet services

CRTC denies AMI request for rate increase

Quebecor seeks to review and vary Bell MVNO decision

CRTC consulting on new consumer protection measures

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us