Federal Court of Appeal upholds website-blocking order, denies TekSavvy’s appeal

The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled to uphold the order for Canada’s first website-blocking framework after denying TekSavvy’s appeal.

The order requires internet service providers to block access to IPTV service GoldTV, which is a pirate service that provides thousands of TV channels through streams over internet networks for a small fee.

TekSavvy appealed the decision in November 2019 and argued that it infringed on Canadians’ freedom of speech. The service provider argued that companies should not be responsible for the content of the traffic on their networks.

The Federal Court of Appeal has now published its decision regarding the case. Justice George R. Locke stated that he “would dismiss this appeal with costs.”

“Having found no error in the Judge’s conclusion that the Federal Court has the power to grant a site-blocking order, and having likewise found no error in his analysis of the applicable legal test, I conclude that this Court should not interfere with the Judge’s decision,” the decision reads.

In July 2019, Bell, Groupe TVA and Rogers filed a lawsuit against GoldTV for alleged copyright infringement and had asked that ISPs be ordered to block it. In November 2019, the Federal Court of Canada issued the order, after which TekSavvy appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal.

It’s unknown whether TekSavvy will appeal the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.