Instead of going to court, Canadian copyright holders have been sending shakedown letters to suspected illegal downloaders suggesting a payment might stave off legal action. (Via Pexels)
Ever since the previous Conservative government updated Canadian copyright law back in 2015, there has been interest in the infringement provision that permits copyright holders to notify end users through service providers if they feel their intellectual property rights have been violated.
A test case has been wending its way through the courts. It pits Voltage Pictures LLC, the producers of The Hurt Locker, against numerous Rogers Communications customers suspected of pirating the hit movie.
Presumably the downloading of the movie in this particular case occurred through BitTorrent or similar services. The legal establishment has labelled the Voltage Pictures approach as an example of a reverse class action suit.
In order for Voltage Pictures to be able to identify Rogers cable service customers who it believes viewed its movie through unsanctioned means, it needs the cooperation of the cable company. Only the cable company can match up Internet Protocol (IP) addresses believed to have been used for illicit viewing of the movie with actual customer names.
Until recently the cable companies typically charged $100 or so to process an IP-customer lookup. However, a federal court ruled in favour of Voltage Pictures when it argued that there should be no fee in cases where a copyright holder suspects infringement. Instead of a fee, which increased the expense of going after illegal downloaders, the court suggested all cable subscribers should share in the cost.
Here in Canada we have yet to see a court case pitting a copyright holder against a single illegal downloader. What we have seen so far is shakedown letters against suspected illegal downloaders suggesting a payment might be in order to stave off a potential court case.
Perhaps you know someone who has received such a letter. I’ve seen several of these, brought to me by students who’ve been passed the letter by a parent. The letter typically specifies an item, say a video game such as FIFA Football from Electronic Arts, that has been downloaded from a torrent site.
Usually the student has downloaded the item. An agent working on behalf of the copyright holder monitors various torrenting sites and identifies IP addresses that are downloading a particular title. The agent matches up the IP addresses with various service providers and sends them form letters identifying the software title and the date and time. The provider then forwards these letters to the customer, adding a note to the effect that any further actions of this nature could lead to a loss of service, effectively a closing of the account.
A court case here is unlikely to bring much in the way of a win for a copyright holder as the maximum penalty is on the order of $5,000. Let’s just say that any win would be more than offset by legal costs. Furthermore, on a first offence, it’s more likely that the penalty would be minimal.
Having that $100 or so nominal fee eliminated for IP lookups is not sitting well with consumer groups, and the service providers. The argument is that without the fee it will become open-season for copyright trolls, law firms that cast a wide net, hoping to sweep up lucrative settlements from movie pirates.
Basically the law firms hope they can send out intimidating letters (“pay this suggested amount for copyright infringement damages or we’ll see you in court”) that may scare consumers into paying a settlement without putting up a legal fight.
Should you happen to receive such a letter, the best advice seems to be to take no action whatsoever. Certainly any demand for payment for an implied copyright violation is not sanctioned by the copyright law as it stands at present.
And it's also important to remember many fraudulent letters have been sent out by Internet scammers as well. These often look the part of a real letter, but are far from it.
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