Alleged content-piracy case goes to court

OTTAWA— Bell, Rogers and Quebecor will be allowed to take their legal battle with the TVAddons website — which they allege is a content piracy operation that violates their copyrights — to the Federal Court of Appeal.

The three telecom-media groups were able to obtain a court order last June that allowed authorities to search the Montreal home of website operator Adam Lackman and shut down TVAddons temporarily.

The focus of their appeal will be a Federal Court judge’s ruling that vacated the court order about two weeks after the raid on Lackman’s home.

A panel of Federal Court of Appeal judges has granted the companies’ request to appeal Justice Richard Bell’s decision to vacate a search order granted on June 9, 2017 and executed on June 12, 2017.

The panel also reinstated the Anton Piller order pending the appeal of Justice Bell’s decision of June 29, 2017.