Canadian ISP Teksavvy got handed a court decision that on the surface looks kind of bad for customers. They have to hand over the names of customers who pirate movies to Voltage Pictures. Here are the details from the CBC:
A Federal Court decision released Thursday compels Ontario-based TekSavvy to identify the customers allegedly linked to downloads of films by the U.S. production company Voltage Pictures, which is behind the likes of The Hurt Locker, Dallas Buyers Club and Don Jon.
As a result, those TekSavvy customers could eventually receive a letter from Voltage threatening legal action. Under the federal Copyright Act, statutory damages for non-commercial infringement range between $100 and $5,000.
Now that does sound bad. But here’s why Voltage Pictures may never see a dime:
But while the court sided with Voltage’s efforts to go after copyright violators, it sought to protect against the company acting “inappropriately in the enforcement of its rights to the detriment of innocent Internet users.”
“On the facts of this case, there is some evidence that Voltage has been engaged in litigation which may have an improper purpose. However, the evidence is not sufficiently compelling for this court at this juncture in the proceeding to make any definitive determination of the motive of Voltage,” wrote judge Kevin Aalto.
Aalto ordered that before Voltage can send a letter to the alleged downloaders, it must return to court to get the wording of its communications cleared by a case management judge.
“In order to ensure there is no inappropriate language in any demand letter sent to the alleged infringers, the draft demand letter will be provided to the court for review,” Aalto wrote.
“Any correspondence sent by Voltage to any subscriber shall clearly state in bold type that no court has yet made a determination that such subscriber has infringed or is liable in any way for payment of damages.”
Voltage was also ordered to pay any costs that TekSavvy incurs in identifying the customers in the case, as well as legal fees.
So. Anything that Voltage Pictures does has to be overseen by a court. Plus they have to pick up the costs of Teksavvy for doing their legwork. If I’m Voltage Pictures, that may be a huge disincentive for them to go after a single movie pirate. Of course, Voltage could always appeal or just decide the costs are worth it. We’ll have to see what happens.
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This entry was posted on February 21, 2014 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Teksavvy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Teksavvy Forced To Hand Over Names Of Customers Who Pirate Movies
Canadian ISP Teksavvy got handed a court decision that on the surface looks kind of bad for customers. They have to hand over the names of customers who pirate movies to Voltage Pictures. Here are the details from the CBC:
A Federal Court decision released Thursday compels Ontario-based TekSavvy to identify the customers allegedly linked to downloads of films by the U.S. production company Voltage Pictures, which is behind the likes of The Hurt Locker, Dallas Buyers Club and Don Jon.
As a result, those TekSavvy customers could eventually receive a letter from Voltage threatening legal action. Under the federal Copyright Act, statutory damages for non-commercial infringement range between $100 and $5,000.
Now that does sound bad. But here’s why Voltage Pictures may never see a dime:
But while the court sided with Voltage’s efforts to go after copyright violators, it sought to protect against the company acting “inappropriately in the enforcement of its rights to the detriment of innocent Internet users.”
“On the facts of this case, there is some evidence that Voltage has been engaged in litigation which may have an improper purpose. However, the evidence is not sufficiently compelling for this court at this juncture in the proceeding to make any definitive determination of the motive of Voltage,” wrote judge Kevin Aalto.
Aalto ordered that before Voltage can send a letter to the alleged downloaders, it must return to court to get the wording of its communications cleared by a case management judge.
“In order to ensure there is no inappropriate language in any demand letter sent to the alleged infringers, the draft demand letter will be provided to the court for review,” Aalto wrote.
“Any correspondence sent by Voltage to any subscriber shall clearly state in bold type that no court has yet made a determination that such subscriber has infringed or is liable in any way for payment of damages.”
Voltage was also ordered to pay any costs that TekSavvy incurs in identifying the customers in the case, as well as legal fees.
So. Anything that Voltage Pictures does has to be overseen by a court. Plus they have to pick up the costs of Teksavvy for doing their legwork. If I’m Voltage Pictures, that may be a huge disincentive for them to go after a single movie pirate. Of course, Voltage could always appeal or just decide the costs are worth it. We’ll have to see what happens.
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This entry was posted on February 21, 2014 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Teksavvy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.