Intellectual property protects the creation and use of the works of artists, inventors and other stakeholders in our society. Piracy is the most blatant denial of those rights. Quebecor will always be a staunch defender of copyright and of copyright holders.

The Federal Court has again ruled in favour of Quebecor in a decision sanctioning two Québec City companies. The Court found Technologies Konek et Coopérative de câblodistribution Hill Valley jointly and severally liable for infringing TVA Group’s copyright by illegally redistributing the TVA and TVA Sports channels at different times.

Quebecor became aware of Konek’s illegal activities in early 2020 when some of its clients were solicited to do business with the Québec City-based company, which was redistributing to hotels TVA Group channels to which it held no rights.

Quebecor takes piracy very seriously and will continue identifying resellers and taking all necessary legal action to protect the rights of subsidiaries actively engaged in creating and redistributing content, for the benefit of its cultural workers. Piracy and content theft cannot be condoned if cultural industries are to thrive. Such illegal appropriation causes losses in the millions of dollars and jeopardizes the entire content creation chain.

In recent years, Quebecor has joined with other distributors and programming undertakings to take action against piracy and has won a number of cases, including against Truespeed Internet Services Inc., TVAddons and Gold TV.

* Federal Court, court number T-374-21, file number 2022 FC 256