blocking orders Archives

Dynamic Copyright Blocking Orders: My Fordham Talk

I had the pleasure to speak earlier today at the Fordham 30th Annual Intellectual Property & Policy Conference in New York. My topic was IP & Live Content Piracy in Sports. The focus was on the availability of copyright dynamic blocking orders in Canada and elsewhere.

I was honored to participate along with the moderator Michele Woods (WIPO) and other speakers and panelists, Julian Waiblinger (Nordemann), Joshua Graubart (Romano Law), Miruna Herovanu ( ACT), and Trevor Cook (Bird & Bird). They focused on the challenges and availability of dynamic blocking orders in the EU and United Kingdom.…

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Modern Copyright Framework for Online Intermediaries: my submission to the consultation

This is my submission to the Consultation on a Modern Copyright Framework for Online Intermediaries. It addresses whether the Copyright Act should be amended to: “Recalibrate the Knowledge Standard for Eligibility” for safe harbors; “Clarify the Permitted Involvement of Qualifying Intermediaries”; create “New Obligations for Qualifying Intermediaries”; “Compel Remuneration Through Collective Licensing”; and “Strengthen Enforcement Tools Against Online Infringement” such as by enacting a blocking order regime.

Thank you for providing an opportunity to provide input to the Consultation on a Modern Copyright Framework for Online Intermediaries.…

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blocking orders

Blocking orders available in Canada rules Court of Appeal in GoldTV case

In a landmark decision released by the Federal Court of Appeal in Teksavvy Solutions Inc. v. Bell Media Inc. 2021 FCA 100, the Court affirmed the blocking order made against the pirate streaming service GoldTV and confirmed that blocking orders are available in Canada to combat illicit online services that target the Canadian market with infringing copyright content. I previously summarized the decision of the motion court judge Patrick Gleeson whose decision was at issue in the appeal.

The decision of the Court of Appeal dealt with three broad issues: whether the Federal Court had the power to grant a blocking order; if so, the relevance of freedom of expression; and whether the order was just and equitable.…

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Site blocking orders come to Canada: GoldTV.biz

In an important decision released Friday, the Federal Court of Canada issued the first Canadian site blocking order against sites that predominantly facilitate copyright infringement. The order made by Justice Gleeson, in a carefully reasoned decision in Bell Media Inc. et al v GOLDTV.BIZ 2019 FC 1432, ordered certain ISPs in Canada to block access to pirate subscription streaming sites (GoldTV.biz and GoldTV.ca) that were infringing the copyrights of the plaintiffs Bell Media Inc., Groupe TVA Inc, and Rogers media Inc.…

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Developments in computer, Internet and e-commerce law: the year in review (2018-2019)

I gave my annual presentation yesterday to the Toronto computer Lawyers’ Group on “The year in review in Computer, Internet and E-Commerce Law”. It covers the period from June 2018 to June 2019. The developments include cases from Canada, the U.S. the U.K., EU, Australia, South Africa, India and other countries.

The developments are organized into the broad topics of:

Privacy / Big Data / AI
Employee / HR
E-commerce / Online Agreements
Online Remedies / Governance / Jurisdiction
Copyright

The cases and other documents referred to are below.…

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Norms for copyright reform: my submission to the INDU Committee

Here is my submission to the INDU Committee conducting the s.92 review of the Copyright Act. It is based on my remarks made to the Committee when I appeared before it on December 3, 2018. My remarks to the Committee and answers to questions can be accessed on Parvu.

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I am a Senior Partner in the technology law group of McCarthy Tétrault. I have represented members of the creative industries, intermediaries and users. I also teach intellectual property law at Osgoode Hall Law School and have published books including on copyright and Internet law.…

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CRTC punts FairPlay site blocking proposal to Parliament

In a decision that can only be regarded as a major blow to Canadian creators and distributors of copyright materials, the CRTC today, in Telecom Decision CRTC 2018-384, dismissed FairPlay Canada’s application to establish a site blocking regime to combat the scourge of online piracy.

The CRTC dismissed the application on jurisdictional grounds, but not before making the express finding that the record before it “demonstrates that there is evidence that copyright piracy results in harm to the Canadian broadcasting system and to the economy in general”.…

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Global Internet injunctions: my Alai talk

I had the pleasure earlier today of speaking at the 2018 ALAI Congress in Montreal. My topic was on global internet injunctions. My slides are shown below.…

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FairPlay copyright blocking proposal: my presentation at the Fordham IP conference

I had the pleasure to speak at the 26th Annual Fordham Intellectual Property Law & Policy Conference. In my opinion, this is the best IP conference. My topic was

Canada’s Fairplay’s Website-Blocking Plan: What is it and is it consistent with international norms and principles including requirements for proportionality, rights to freedom of expression and principles of net neutrality?

I have written extensively about the proposal including in a lengthy intervention supporting it filed with the CRTC, also available here.…

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Fact checking Michael Geist’s criticisms of the FairPlay site blocking proposal

The FairPlay coalition comprising more than 25 organizations representing hundreds of thousands of members of Canada’s creative community made a reasonable proposal to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Canada’s telecommunications and broadcast regulator, to address the scourge of online copyright infringement.[1] The proposal, which involves website blocking, was immediately attacked by anti-copyright activist Michael Geist (“Geist”) in a series of articles and interviews. As I showed in a prior lengthy blog post,[2] his criticisms were unfounded and overblown.…

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