Federal Court Trusts Technology To Prove Infringement

Introduction

The Federal Court of Canada has recently signalled its willingness to accept technology as a stand-in for human analysis in a copyright infringement claim. Trimble Solutions v Quantum Dynamics, 2021 FC 63, demonstrates the value in using sophisticated technology to advance and defend claims that would typically require expensive and time-consuming manual efforts.

Facts

Trimble Solutions Corporation (Trimble) is the registered copyright owner of Tekla Structures, a software program used for 3D modelling and design in the construction industry. BuildingPoint Canada Inc. (BuildingPoint) is Trimble's authorized reseller in Canada.

Trimble embedded anti-piracy software in Tekla Structures to detect suspicious activity, such as the use or reproduction of the program by unauthorized users. When triggered, the software automatically collects certain data and generates an infringement report, which includes the nature and time of the incident and