Archive for February 24th, 2014

Why Copyright Trolling in Canada Doesn’t Pay: Assessing the Fallout From the Voltage – TekSavvy Case

The Canadian media featured extensive coverage over the weekend of the federal court decision that opens the door to TekSavvy disclosing the names and addresses of thousands of subscribers and establishes new safeguards against copyright trolling in Canada. While some focused on the copyright trolling issues, others emphasized the disclosure of the names and the possibility of lawsuits.

What comes next is anyone’s guess – Voltage indicates that it plans to pursue the case – but the economics of suing thousands of Canadians for downloading a movie for personal purposes may not make sense given current Canadian law. This post examines the law and estimated costs of pursuing file sharing litigation against individuals, concluding that the combination of copyright reform, the Voltage decision, likely damage awards, and litigation costs will force would-be plaintiffs to reconsider their strategies.

Read more ›

February 24, 2014 100 comments News