TekSavvy ordered to turn over subscriber info to Voltage

A Canadian Internet service provider is being required by court order to give information on its subscribers linked with illegal filesharing to a Hollywood production company, and advocates on both sides of the issue are expressing appreciation for the decision. The Federal Court issued a decision Thursday ordering ISP TekSavvy Solutions Inc. to turn over the names and addresses of about 2,000 subscribers to Voltage Pictures LLC. In the decision, the court said: “TekSavvy Solutions Inc. (TekSavvy) shall disclose to the Plaintiff the contact information, in the form of names and addresses, to the extent it is able, of the TekSavvy customer accounts .” The court decision noted arguments made in the case by the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), in which it categorized Voltage and Canipre Inc. — the forensic copyright company that linked the illegal filesharing to TekSavvy customers through their IP addresses — as “copyright trolls” that are looking to intimidate consumers into easy settlements through letters and threats of legal action. It’s an argument CIPPIC made in 2011 when Voltage won a Federal Court order to get the names and addresses associated with 30 IP addresses suspected as being involved in the illegal sharing of its Oscar-winning movie The Hurt Locker. BCE Inc., Cogeco Cable Inc. and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron were the service providers subject to that order. In November 2012, Voltage royalties manager Michael Wickstrom said during an interview on a Vancouver radio station that the company intended to “get tough” with illegal movie downloaders in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. On Friday, John Philpott, a Toronto lawyer representing Voltage in this case involving TekSavvy subscribers, said he’s happy with the outcome. “We think with this decision the court has struck a good new balance that protects rights holders and artists, as well as protecting the public interest, people’s interest in privacy and the interest of the free flow of information on the Internet,” he said in a phone interview. He said those that categorize companies such as Voltage as “copyright trolls” tend to come from “a downloading community that takes an extreme view of copyright. … If everyone’s freeriding on copyrighted works, creativity will be incredibly diminished, and we’re already starting to see that.” Among the conditions the court attached to Voltage being allowed access to the information of TekSavvy subscribers is that letters to them from the production company must state in bold type that no court has yet determined they have infringed on any copyright laws or are liable for any damages. The court also ordered that any letters to subscribers be approved by a case-management judge of the court, and that any separate action taken against these subscribers be coordinated in connection with this case. As well, the court said any legal or administrative costs incurred by TekSavvy in the process must by reimbursed by Voltage prior to the release of the subscriber information. Philpott said: “We don’t have any problems with the conditions. We think they’ll be helpful with moving cases forward.” Michael Geist, Canada research chair in Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, said in a blog post: “The safeguards are significant, since they ensure the active involvement of the courts in the sending of demand letters and likely eliminate unwarranted scare tactics about potential liability.” Geist, who’s also an organizer with CIPPIC, said the $5,000 liability cap for non-commercial infringement in Canada, and requiring the plaintiff to pay the ISP’s legal fees, “calls into question whether copyright trolling litigation is economically viable in Canada. The federal court was clearly anxious to discourage such tactics and its safeguards certainly make such actions less likely.” CIPPIC director David Fewer said he was pleased with the court’s decision. “The court did, I think, a really good job of trying to be even-handed,” he said in a phone interview. “On the one hand, hasn’t foreclosed the opportunity for intellectual property rights holders to come forward with good-faith claims of copyright infringement and be able to enforce their rights to the courts. And on the other side, I think has slammed the door pretty firmly on the possibility of copyright trolls setting up shop in Canada.” Fewer said he would have preferred the court not order the names and addresses of Internet customers be released to Voltage because he feels the case that Voltage has acted as a “copyright troll” had been firmly established. “We put in evidence of around 20 cases or something like that in the United States that Voltage has been involved with where it’s been suing people, and court decisions in the United States just lambasting Voltage as a copyright troll and engaging in abusive activities.” The court said in its decision “that whether Voltage is or is not a ‘copyright troll’ is not for determination.” Pierre Aube, chief operating office for TekSavvy, said he found the court decision favourable, particularly the aspect that gives his company a chance to review and have input into any letters by Voltage to the company’s Internet subscribers before the customer information is released. “Privacy has always been always been a concern at TekSavvy, which is why we haven’t released the names prior to having a court order to do that,” he said in a phone interview. “And we wanted to make sure that the court would put fence posts in place and safeguards as to what will be asked of these users.” — With reporting by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca and editing by Peter Henderson at phenderson@thewirereport.ca

TekSavvy ordered to turn over subscriber info to Voltage

News | 02/21/2014 9:44 pm EST

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