Court backs filmmaker in dispute with aquarium
VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s Appeal Court has ruled in favour of a filmmaker whose documentary criticized the Vancouver Aquarium’s practice of keeping beluga whales and dolphins in captivity.
It said Wednesday that a lower-court judge erred in ordering the filmmaker to remove 15 segments of his documentary that the aquarium claimed could cause the facility irreparable harm.
Justice Elizabeth Bennett said a B.C. Supreme Court judge accepted, “without any further analysis,” an affidavit by the aquarium’s chief financial officer and senior vice-president of business, who said the derogatory use of copyrighted material could cause harm that would be impossible to calculate or repair.
“There was not a shred of evidence in support of that conclusion,” Bennett said in a written ruling, adding the affidavit did not mention any damage pertaining to loss of donations, attendance or other factors.
The aquarium filed a lawsuit against filmmaker Gary Charbonneau in March 2016, alleging copyright infringement and breach of contract. A month later, it was granted an injunction to remove disputed content from the one-hour documentary called Vancouver Aquarium Uncovered, which YouTube refused to remove at the request of the facility.
Bennett said aspects of the documentary that are highly critical come from clips of public hearings where aquarium officials have spoken and of their public positions and budgets, juxtaposed with interviews of experts and former and current park board members, “all critical of the aquarium.”
“The film is about a public dialogue and debate on the issue of whether cetaceans should be kept in captivity,” said Bennett, who wrote the first part of the decision on behalf of a three-judge panel.
Charbonneau called the lawsuit a bullying tactic, saying he aimed to expose the truth about the facility’s captivity practices.
“It’s a huge win for artists across Canada. It’s a huge win for the poor animals in captivity and it just shows that the bullying from the Vancouver Aquarium is coming to an end.”
The aquarium said it is disappointed in the ruling, but has not decided whether it will move forward with its copyright lawsuit filed in 2016.