Copyright v. Privacy: Voltage Pictures LLC v. John Doe And Jane Doe

The recent Federal Court of Canada decision in Voltage Pictures LLC v. John Doe and Jane Doe (2014 FC 161) has already received considerable attention for its approach to deterring so-called "copyright trolls": plaintiffs with "improper motives" who file multitudes of infringement lawsuits to extort quick settlements.  While less headline-worthy, the decision is also important for its practical approach to weighing copyright against privacy rights.  The central question was: are individuals who are suspected of engaging in illegal P2P downloading entitled to expect that their ISP will shield their identity from the copyright owner?

In the result, the Court ordered Ontario-based ISP TekSavvy to disclose the names and addresses of some 2,000 subscribers suspected of unauthorized copying and sharing of Voltage's movies, including The Hurt Locker.  To arrive at this result, the Court had to balance two competing rights that are sometimes considered to be "proprietary" by