The Federal Court of Canada recently issued Canada's first
ever site blocking order in Bell Media Inc v GoldTV Services, 2019 FC 1432
(Bell Media). In Bell Media, the court compelled Canadian internet
service providers (ISPs) to take steps to block their customers
from accessing websites operated by pirate streaming sites
GoldTV.biz and GoldTV.ca.
The plaintiffs (Bell and Rogers) broadcast a variety of
programming through their online streaming services. Bell and
Rogers first began pushing the CRTC, Canada's media regulatory
agency, to create a blacklist of piracy sites and to require all
Canadian ISPs to block such sites. When the CRTC concluded that it
lacked jurisdiction to grant injunctions based on the underlying
copyright issues, Bell and Rogers commenced a lawsuit in Federal
Court.
