Lead Office

Toronto

McCarthy Tétrault is representing various media and broadcasting associations, namely International Association Of Scientific, Technical And Medical Publishers, American Association Of Publishers, The Publishers Association Limited, Canadian Publishers’ Council, and Association Of Canadian Publishers, The Football Association Premier League Limited and Dazn Limited, in an important copyright site blocking case before the Federal Court of Appeal.

The purpose of the intervention is to rebut freedom of expression type of arguments inspired by United Nations Special Rapporteur that site blocking orders could be an extreme measure that may restrict people’s fundamental freedom of expression rights. This is a case of first impression in Canada on site-blocking orders important for all Canadians who access the Internet as subscribers of ISPs. We succeeded in convincing the Federal Court of Appeal that site blocking orders were grantable based on the Equustek principles. Leave was subsequently denied at the Supreme Court of Canada, thus confirming the availability of such orders to assist our clients in defending their intellectual property rights.

McCarthy Tétrault is advising the various media and broadcasting associations with a team led by Barry Sookman (Business), Steven Mason (Litigation) and Dan Glover (Intellectual Property).