Supreme Court to hear case on whether ISPs can charge for IDing online pirates
OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada says it will hear a case over whether an internet service provider can charge a fee for revealing information about a suspected movie pirate to film producers seeking to crack down on people who share copyrighted material illegally.
Rogers Communications Inc. has assembled the identifying information sought by a group of movie producers who want a name to use in filing a lawsuit.
Rogers wants to charge $100 an hour plus GST for digging up the information.
The Federal Court said OK, but the producers appealed, saying there are tens of thousands of suspected infringers and the fee could be a multimillion-dollar barrier to their efforts.