NEWS
Monday, February 2, 2014 3
Leaving the Back Door Open to Trolls
The slippery slope that left Canada’s newly implemented
notice-and-notice system open for abuse
heather pringle › layout editor
L
ess t h a n a week after it came into effect,
Canada’s new copyright notice-and-notice
system, which requires Internet service pro viders to forward warning notices issued
to customers by rights holders, was already marked
with controversy. Described as a “loophole in the
new law,” the government’s failure to implement
statutory regulations addressing the content of these
notices has allowed the system to be subject to abuse.
First revealed on his blog on January 8, Michael Geist
identified the U.S.-based anti-piracy firm Rightscorp
as the first to use the new system as a way of forcing
Canadian ISP companies to participate in a practice
that is pejoratively known as “copyright trolling.”
Acting on behalf of BMG Rights Management,
Rightscorp required ISPs to forward notices issued
to their customers warning them of potential liabilities for alleged copyright infringement. The first part
of the controversy lies in the fact that these notices
falsely state Canadian law—describing U.S. penalties of up to $150,000 per infringement rather than
citing Canada’s $5,000 statutory limit on liability—
and fail to inform the customer that these are merely
allegations that have not yet been proven in court.
The system was justified as an attempt to educate the
public about copyright infringement and raise awareness about its deleterious effect on the Canadian economy, yet Rightscorp’s actions demonstrate just how
poorly the system operates to achieve that purpose.
As an aside, it is interesting to note that Rightscorp
is no stranger to controversy. While self-proclaimed
as the leading provider of “monetization services
for artists and holders of copyrighted Intellectual
Property,” many describe the company’s practices
as nothing more than copyright trolling. In March
2014, the California-based company announced that
it was seeking to expand its services into Canada and
retained Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP as its legal
counsel. Looking back on the course of events, it’s
arguable that Rightscorp was simply positioning itself
in anticipation of the new system coming into effect.
Unlike cases involving a Norwich order where, as