The Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Rogers Communications Inc. v. Voltage
Pictures, LLC, holding that internet service providers are
entitled to their reasonable costs of compliance with Norwich
orders for the disclosure of subscriber information.
The underlying facts relevant to this appeal are
straightforward. The respondents, film production companies,
alleged that their copyrights were infringed by unknown internet
subscribers who shared their films using peer to peer file sharing
networks. The respondents sued one of those unknown users –
"John Doe" – alleging breach of copyright. The
objective of suing this John Doe was to commence a so-called
"reverse" class action against thousands of people whose
identities were unknown but that the respondents said had similarly
infringed its copyright. In pursuit of that action, the respondents
brought a motion for a Norwich order compelling John Doe's
internet service providers – the appellant,
