34 LEXPERT MAGAZINE
|
SEPTEMBER 2017
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COVER STORY
IP
Nintendo wasn't expecting a
major payout when it sued a small
retailer for copyright infringement.
What it expected was far
more valuable — to redefine
the law around media piracy
BY SANDRA RUBIN
EARLIER THIS YEAR,
the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA),
which includes the largest US music and film industry groups, placed Canada on a
watch list of 16 countries that are the top places of origin for internet piracy. at
had to be disappointing for lawmakers in this country, especially since they adopted
changes to the Copyright Act in 2012 that introduced new technological protection
measures, or TPMs for short, that some are calling among the toughest anti-piracy
laws in the world.
And yet, for years they remained largely untested. "In the five years aer those
amendments came in, it was amazing to me how quiet it was," says Bruce Green, an
IP lawyer at Oyen Wiggs Green & Mutala LLP in Vancouver.
at changed last fall when Nintendo of America Inc. filed an application in the
Federal Court of Canada complaining that a Waterloo, Ont., retailer was selling
devices to circumvent its technological protection measures. Nintendo claimed Go
Cyber Shopping Ltd. was trafficking in game copiers that allowed people to play
pirated Nintendo games on a Nintendo console, as well as so-called "mod chips,"
which let users modify Nintendo consoles to also play other company's games. e
gaming giant asked for a declaration that the retailer had circumvented its TPMs
and infringed on its copyrighted material. It asked for statutory damages and an
Owners Level
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK
