Alyssa Quinn, Policy Program Manager at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), says website blocking is the most powerful tool available to combat online copyright infringement. CIRA is responsible for domain registration for .ca websites and intervened in the case.
“Blocking websites at the ISP level should be the absolute last resort,” she says. “There are other intermediaries closer to the actual infringing content that plaintiffs could have turned to to more accurately and appropriately address this particular copyright infringement case.”
The problem in Teksavvy Solutions Inc. v Bell Media Inc. emerged in November 2019. The federal court issued an injunction ordering several Canadian internet service providers (ISPs) to suspend access to an unauthorized subscription service operating under the domain names goldtv.biz and goldtv.ca. Clients were Bell Media Inc., Groupe TVA Inc. and Rogers Media Inc.
One ISP involved, Teksavvy, denied the request, arguing that it should be up to the Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to ban websites, not the federal court, and that the plaintiffs needed legal scrutiny to issue the order would not have existed.
One problem in the case was that Canada currently doesn’t have an “explicit legal framework” that could serve as a guideline for website blocking, Quinn says. The court has to “read a bit between the lines” in the Copyright Act and the Telecommunications Act to reach its decision, she says.
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