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ARTICLE · 27 JANUARY 2016

Copyright Year In Review — 2015

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This article summarizes noteworthy Canadian copyright law decisions and developments from 2015.

CanadaIntellectual Property
Kevin Sartorio
Kevin Sartorio
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This article summarizes noteworthy Canadian copyright law decisions and developments from 2015.

1. Voltage Pictures LLC v. John Doe, 2015 FC 1364

In 2014, the Federal Court ordered TekSavvy (a non-party Internet Service Provider) to produce names of approximately 2,000 customers alleged to have infringed copyright through illegal file sharing of the film The Hurt Locker. The Plaintiff (Voltage Pictures) was ordered to pay TekSavvy's reasonable costs of compliance. On its own accord, TekSavvy notified more than 200,000 subscribers of the litigation, which generated a much higher volume of inquiries and significant additional compliance costs that TekSavvy sought to recover.

The Federal Court (on appeal from a Prothonotary) agreed that reasonable costs of compliance should be recovered and ultimately allowed a slightly higher costs award to TekSavvy. However, it ultimately concluded that costs arising from TekSavvy's decision to notify 200,000 subscribers would not

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