Television Giants gain victory over Digital TV boxes

The Federal Court Canada has ordered an interim ban on the sale of Digital set-top boxes that come preloaded with copyrighted contents.  BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron Ltd,  teamed up to take legal action against five defendants namely: iTVBox.net, My Electronics, Android Bros Inc., WatchNSaveNow Inc. and MtlFreeTV.com.

The set-top boxes sold by the defendents, are available in the market which have preinstalled and configured media applications like Netflixs and YouTube at the same time unauthorized streaming services that provide unlicensed contents.

Though, the workings of such set-top boxes are very similar how computer may also be providing acess to such unlicend content. The argument taken by the Television Giants of Canada was that, such set-top boxes increase the likelihood of consumers cancelling their cable and satellite services, as these digital boxes provide such infringing material at low or no cost at all.

“These boxes have several uses for consumers, some of which are perfectly legal and some which skirt around the fringes of copyright law. This is not the first time a new technology has been alleged to violate copyright law, nor will it be the last,”

“For the time being, I am satisfied that the plaintiffs have established a strong prima facie case of copyright infringement and that an injunction would prevent irreparable harm without unduly inconveniencing the defendants,” Justice Tremblay-Lamer wrote.

If the decision stands, then this case may be Canada’s cold shoulder towards new disruptive technologies.