Alberta Court Finds Jurisdiction over Copyright Dispute Involving Seismic Data

In Geophysical Service Incorporated v Jebco Seismic UK Limited, 2016 ABQB 402, the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench dismissed applications to dismiss or stay the plaintiff’s action. The defendants had argued that the Alberta Court had no jurisdiction over the defendants in relation to the subject matter at issue in the action.

The subject matter in question was large volumes of seismic data, over which the plaintiff Geophysical Service Incorporated (GSI) claimed copyright. There were approximately 25 actions in which GSI had alleged infringement of its copyright by numerous oil and gas companies (more information available here).

GSI provided no detailed particulars regarding what copies of protected seismic data the individual defendants had allegedly misused, alleging only that certain data was requested by the defendant, Jebco Seismic UK Limited (Jebco), from an offshore petroleum regulatory board that holds GSI’s data. There was no evidence that the information was obtained, copied, used or stored in Alberta by any of the defendants.

The Court found that it had jurisdiction to consider the action, as the claim involved a request for relief under Canadian copyright law. Interestingly, the Court noted that “it is difficult to contemplate how a forum outside of Canada would ever be an appropriate forum for the consideration and application of Canadian copyright law”. Further, the Court found that the non-Canadian defendants were necessary and proper parties to the action, a presumptive ground for assuming jurisdiction through those defendants’ connections with a Canadian Jebco affiliate.

This decision shows the willingness of Canadian courts to assume jurisdiction over actions that involve rights and remedies under the Copyright Act. In addition, the Alberta Court applied the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Club Resorts Ltd v Van Breda (2012 SCC 17) in order to assume jurisdiction over all aspects of the case once it had found jurisdiction over at least part.