IIC Canada: Is site blocking a reasonable approach to piracy, or overkill?

By Perry Hoffman

OTTAWA – Piracy continues to be a major problem for the international content industry. Whether it’s the Premier League football in the UK or HBO’s Game of Thrones, rights holders are under pressure to find ways to stem the piracy tide. As a potential remedy, site blocking was one option raised at the International Institute of Communications’ Canadian event in Ottawa this week.A paper by Richard Lizius, an associate with McCarthy Tétrault argued that site blocking is a legitimate approach and the Canadian courts have the authority to issue such orders (Lizius wasn’t in attendance; he was at the Federal...