Hill Valley qualifies for the section 31 retransmission exemption by using a private network.
In a motion for summary trial regarding copyright infringement for retransmitting television stations to hotels, the Federal Court determined that Coopérative de câblodistribution Hill Valley qualifies as a "retransmitter" under section 31 of the Copyright Act as of February 3, 2021.
The Court found that Hill Valley's network architecture uses a private connection (VPN tunnels and point-to-point links) rather than the public Internet.
Konek Technologies Inc. and Hill Valley were held jointly and severally liable for non-exempt infringements, while a third company providing server hosting, Libéo inc., was not liable.
Requests for an injunction and further declarations were denied as exceeding the agreed scope of the motion.
