Federal Court of Canada Orders Takedown of Popcorn Time Streaming Site in Infringement Case

On October 16th, 2015, the Federal Court of Canada issued an interim injunction against a group of Canadians who allegedly operate the Popcorn Time content streaming website and related downloadable application (the Website). The plaintiffs in this case are the members of the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA), a trade association representing six major Hollywood studios.  The plaintiffs allege that the Website is predominantly used by Canadians to stream infringing content owned by the plaintiffs. The court issued the injunction for a period of 14 days, within which time the plaintiffs are able to seek conversion of the interim injunction into an interlocutory injunction.  The court record for this litigation indicates that certain terms of the interim injunction have been extended.

The interim injunction prevents the defendants from communicating movies or television shows owned by the plaintiffs to the public. The defendants are also prevented from operating the Website, related social media accounts and certain VPN services. In order to prevent the defendant’s access to the relevant web content, forensic experts have been authorized to use login credentials, provided by the defendants, to deactivate the affected websites and change all relevant credentials. The injunction further enjoins one particular defendant from disposing of certain assets, and all defendants from using computers, telephones, or other communication devices without the presence of independent supervising counsel.

In a press release issued November 3rd, 2015, the MPAA announced that it had commenced legal action against both Popcorn Time and YTS (a New Zealand based content streaming site). The MPAA states:

Popcorn Time and YTS are illegal platforms that exist for one clear reason: to distribute stolen copies of the latest motion pictures and television shows without compensating the people who worked so hard to make them.

For related news reports, see the following links:

CBC

Globe & Mail