They Shoot, They Score! Sports Broadcasting Entities Obtain Dynamic Site Blocking Order To Prevent Unauthorized Live Streams

On July 9, 2024, the Federal Court of Canada (the Court), in Rogers Media Inc. v John Doe 1, 2024 FC 1082, issued a dynamic site blocking Order requiring (i) the unauthorized streaming services (the Unknown Respondents) to cease providing unauthorized streams of National Hockey League (NHL) games, National Basketball Association (NBA) games, and Premier League football matches, and (ii) certain internet service providers (the Third Party Respondents) to block or attempt to block access to streaming servers that provide unauthorized access to these live sporting events.

The Applicants, including Rogers Media Inc., Bell Media Inc., and FuboTV Inc., have the exclusive rights to communicate live sporting events from the NHL, NBA, and Premier League in Canada.  The Applicants sought a dynamic site blocking Order against the Unknown Respondents and the Third Party Respondents to prevent infringement of copyright in their exclusive live sporting events.  The Third Party Respondents did not oppose the Order.

The Order is substantially similar in form to the Orders granted in Rogers Media Inc. v John Doe 1, 2022 FC 775, and Bell Media Inc. v John Doe 1, 2022 FC 1432, relating to unauthorized streams of live sporting events, as previously reported by the E-TIPS® Newsletter here and here.   In previous cases, the applicants had obtained interlocutory injunction orders, for a stated period of time, for live sports events of a single professional league, in proceedings commenced as actions, against John Doe defendants. 

In this case, the Applicants obtained a permanent injunction, for a stated period of time, for live sports events of multiple professional sports leagues, in proceedings commenced as an application, against John Doe respondents and ISPs named as third party respondents.

Justice Little granted the Order, which included the following injunctive relief:

1. a permanent injunction against the Unknown Respondents, enjoining them from infringing the Applicants’ copyright in the live sporting events;
2. a “wide” injunction against the Unknown Respondents, further enjoining them from infringing the copyright in any other work or subject matter (i) for which the Applicants are the owner of the copyright, and (ii) that is likely to be infringed if the Unknown Respondents are not enjoined from doing so; and
3. a two-year mandatory injunction against the Third Party Respondents, requiring them to take certain steps to prevent the infringement of copyright in the live sporting events.

Summary By: Amy Ariganello