Legal battle pits telecom giants against Montreal software developer in TV piracy cra

[Len]

If you run a website that helps people stream pirated movies and TV shows — even if you’re not providing the pirated video yourself — are you breaking the law?

TV Addons website owner Adam Lackman. Three major telecoms have appealed a Federal Court ruling that the raid on his home was unfair.

If you run a website that helps people stream pirated movies and TV shows — even if you’re not providing the pirated video yourself — are you breaking the law?

That’s the question at the heart of a legal battle that saw three of Canada’s biggest telecom companies search a Montreal software developer’s home for more than 16 hours in June, an experience he says left him “in total shock.”

“I thought I was going to jail that night,” said Adam Lackman in an interview with the National Post.

Lackman is the founder of TV Addons, a popular site for apps that allow users to access online content, like TV shows, and display it on any electronic device. It had 40 million unique users every month before it was shut down.

Lackman claims his website is essentially a search engine, and he has no control over the content people are accessing with these apps.

But Bell Canada, Rogers Communications and Videotron say the website infringes upon their copyright by enabling users to watch pirated TV shows like Game of Thrones for free.

TV Addons’ users are people who use Kodi — an open source media player that can be used to play video, music and games on many devices, including laptops, tablets and smartphones.

The add-ons on Lackman’s site are software that “scrapes” content from different online sources that can then be played using Kodi. Some add-ons are legitimate, and scrape video that’s freely available online. But others allow users to stream pirated content.

Lackman said he can’t be held responsible for the content that people access through add-ons on his site. “It’s impossible for us to test every add-on and know where the content is coming from,” he said.

TV Addons is a popular website for apps that allow users to access online content, like TV shows, and display it on any electronic device. Screengrab
In early June, the telecoms filed a lawsuit against Lackman, alleging that his website makes it much easier for clients to watch unauthorized content.

Later that month, they got what’s called an Anton Piller order, which allowed them to search Lackman’s home without warning. Such orders are issued when there’s a risk of a defendant destroying evidence.

On June 12, a group of men showed up at Lackman’s apartment at 8 am. They stayed well into the night, making copies of all his electronic information. He said they demanded his passwords for his website and social media accounts, and then changed them to lock him out. He said they threatened him with contempt of court if he didn’t comply.

“It was crazy,” he said. “Really the only device in the house they didn’t copy was my fridge.”

In late June, a Federal Court judge declared the Anton Piller order null and void, finding that the search lasted too long and Lackman treated unfairly. The judge pointed out that Lackman was asked about other people who might be running similar websites — an attempt to gather new evidence, when the order is meant only to allow existing evidence to be preserved.

He concluded that the true purpose of the search “was to destroy the livelihood of the defendant, deny him the financial resources to finance a defence to the claim made against him, and to provide an opportunity for discovery of the defendant in circumstances where none of the procedural safeguards of our civil justice system could be engaged.”

The judge ordered that Lackman’s information and passwords be returned to him. But that hasn’t happened. The telecoms appealed the decision, and in July, a Federal Court of Appeal judge ruled the appeal could be heard. Lackman won’t get anything back until that happens.

“The mere existence of a platform which enables TVADDONS.AG users across the world to access copyrighted content without authorization… violates the rights acquired by the appellants (the telecom companies) respectively,” the appeal judge found.

He also found that Lackman had attempted to conceal evidence, and it was therefore necessary to prevent him having access to all his information until the appeal can be heard, which could take months.

So for now, the original TV Addons website is shut down and Lackman says he has no source of revenue and a legal bill of $76,000 and climbing.

He has managed to create a new TV Addons website with a different domain name, but said his reputation is tarnished and he’s unlikely to get the same traffic again.

“I’m just fighting to not get further penalized, because I have nothing to gain,” he said. “I won’t even be able to sell the (original) domain for five dollars.”

He’s also started an Indiegogo fundraiser to help pay his legal bills.

Bell, Rogers and Videtron did not respond to requests for comment. Their lawyers, from Montreal-based law firm Smart & Biggar, said they were bound by a confidentiality order.

Canada has some of the toughest anti-piracy laws in the world, including an “enabler provision” that allows companies to go after sites that facilitate copyright infringement, said University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist, an expert in copyright law. And in recent months, telecom companies have made a “very aggressive” push to fight this type of technology.

But what makes this case complicated, he said, is that TV Addons doesn’t exist just to supply unauthorized content — it provides lots of legitimate add-ons, too.

“I think (the telecoms’) time is better spent targeting the sites that are doing the infringing,” Geist said, referring to websites that actually host pirated videos.

“What I think at a minimum is clear is that Rogers, Bell and Videotron used their power to try to crush this site.”

TV Addons is facing another, similar lawsuit from U.S. TV provider Dish Network, filed in late May. At the time, the company didn’t know who was behind the site.

Still, Lackman maintains he would never have knowingly flouted copyright law.

“I would never have gone against media giants,” he said. “I’m not suicidal. Why would I go against these people?”