Canadian Court Rejects Reverse Class Action Lawsuit Against BitTorrent Pirates

9 months ago

Voltage Pictures has been targeting alleged movie pirates in court for over a decade.
The company filed lawsuits in the U.S., Australia, and Europe, using various strategies.
In Canada, Voltage attempted a reverse class-action lawsuit to target many infringers at once.
The case involved Robert Salna, a WiFi provider, as a representative defendant.
CIPPIC intervened successfully, leading to the Federal Court dismissing the class action in 2019.
Voltage appealed multiple times, including to the Supreme Court, but ultimately lost.
The Federal Court of Appeal ruled that reverse class actions are not permitted under the Copyright Act.
The court emphasized that IP addresses alone are insufficient to prove copyright infringement.
The case was dismissed permanently, and Voltage was ordered to pay Salna's legal costs.
This ruling sets a precedent against mass copyright lawsuits via reverse class actions in Canada.

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