By Ahmad Hathout
Videotron has filed an appeal in a case that awarded it a partial judgment on its allegation that a trio of companies illegally restreamed its TV channels to hotel rooms, saying that the Federal Court erred in leaving out one of the companies for liability.
In February, a Federal Court ruled that Technologies Konek Inc. and Coopérative de câblodistribution Hill Valley violated copyright transmission rules over a period before February 2021, when it used technology to restream without consent Videotron’s signal and distributed to a number of hotel customers, some of which were previously Videotron customers.
The decision not only found that the companies did not violate copyright law after February 2021, but it left out another company Videotron accused of violating the rules: Libeo, which was named as a defendant in the initial suit in February 2021.
In a late March filing, Videotron said the court erred in leaving Libeo Inc. out because it allegedly provided decoders it rented from Videotron to use for the capture and communications of TVA Sports without authorization. Videotron said that this was despite acknowledging Libeo’s role in the operation.
The decision by the court noted that there was no evidence that the company was aware of the precise use of the decoders. Videotron, however, said that knowledge is “not a prerequisite for a finding of infringement” under copyright law.
“It was not only a direct participation of Libeo to the violation of TVA Group’s copyrights, but also of a contravention of the cable television contract with Videotron,” Videotron said in the court documents.
Videotron is asking the court to revise the decision and declare that Libeo is liable for copyright damages.
