CIPPIC News

CIPPIC and Legal Tech Firm vLex Partnering on LFO-Funded and AI-Fueled Communications Policy Analysis Project

- 2019-12-10 -

CIPPIC and vLex deploy expert knowledge and artificial intelligence to improve the ability of Canadian citizens to make a difference.

CIPPIC and international legal technology firm vLex are partnering in a Law Foundation of Ontario funded project to seek to reduce the barriers to effective public participation in communications policy-making by developing a free and fully public communications law and policy research platform.

This initiative aims to increase access and contextual understanding of regulatory, policy and legal submissions and documentation, allowing Canadian citizens to become more informed and more influential in a policy-making process that is often dominated by multi-billion dollar telecom and broadcasting giants.

Built on vLex’s AI-powered technology, Iceberg, CIPPIC and vLex will train and deliver the tools that analyze the thousands of documents, comprising millions of pages, generated across hundreds of regulatory, legislative, judicial and policy proceedings. All with the goal of arming the public with the capability to participate effectively and at a level previously available only to the largest commercial entities.

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Parody Case Settles

- 2019-12-06 -

The appeal of Cooperstock v United Airlines, Inc., scheduled to be heard Tuesday, December 10, has been discontinued as the parties have reached a settlement.

While undoubtedly a positive development for the parties - who bear the cost and stress of the litigation - the development leaves intact the troubling lower court decision in United Airlines, Inc. v. Cooperstock, 2017 FC 616 (CanLII). Mr. Cooperstock operated Untied.com, a consumer criticism site targeting the plaintiff, United Airlines. United, after years of tolerating Mr. Cooperstock's stings, in 2012 concluded that it could take no more and filed a statement of claim alleging copyright infringement and a number of violations of its rights under the Trademarks Act. The lower court agreed sided with United in a controversial opinion. Mr. Cooperstock appealed.

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Voltage Reverse Class Proceeding Denied

- 2019-11-13 -

Justice Boswell of the Federal Court of Canada has denied Voltage’s motion to certify a “reverse” class proceeding for copyright infringement against a class of unidentified internet subscribers and alleged BitTorrent users.

CIPPIC intervened in the motion, arguing among other things that Voltage’s pleadings did not disclose a reasonable cause of action and that a class proceeding was not preferable given that it would amount to individual factual inquiries specific to each class member. The Court agreed on both counts. In rejecting the motion, Justice Boswell concluded:

[77] I agree with CIPPIC’s submissions that Voltage’s pleadings do not disclose a reasonable cause of action with respect to primary infringement. While Voltage alleges that its forensic software identified a direct infringement in [sic] Voltage’s films, Voltage has failed to identify a Direct Infringer in its amended notice of application. ...

[...]

[160] A class proceeding is not a preferable procedure for the just and efficient resolution of any common issues which may exist. The proposed proceeding would require multiple individual fact-findings for each class member on almost every issue. ...

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CIPPIC Files Factum in Uber v. Heller

- 2019-10-18 -
CIPPIC has filed its intervener factum in the Supreme Court in Uber v. Heller, SCC No, 38534, an important case addressing when courts should refuse to enforce contractual restrictions on fair access to justice. CIPPIC’s argument focuses on the applicability of the equitable doctrine of unconscionability to standard form contracts that include contractual restrictions that deny access to justice. CIPPIC proposes a two-step test to aid courts in determining whether such contractual restrictions would result in the unconscionable denial of access to justice.

Professor Marina Pavlović and Cynthia Khoo (LLM Candidate and CIPPIC researcher) are acting for CIPPIC in this intervention. Newly minted lawyer and former CIPPIC Articling Student Johann Kwan also signed on CIPPIC's behalf.

The case is scheduled to be heard November 6, 2019.
- CIPPIC Factum
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Federal Court of Canada sets Rogers "Reasonable Costs" in Norwich Orders

- 2019-08-06 -

The Federal Court of Canada has set Rogers' "reasonable costs" of compliance with a Norwich Order in Voltage's reverse class proceeding. The decision caps a long-running dispute over the proportion of ISP costs copyright claimants must pay ISPs to comply with Norwich orders obliging ISPs to hand over subscriber information to copyright claimants alleging infringement. Following a 2018 Supreme Court of Canada decision clarifying the range of costs ISPs may ask claimants to pay for subscriber data, Rogers had asked for costs of $100 per subscriber. Voltage had asked for costs to be set at close to a third of that figure. The Court split the difference, undertaking a detailed calculation based upon the time and employee costs involved to arrive at the figure of $67.23, plus HST, for the IP address lookup of the single subscriber involved.

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