- Parties: The appellant was Voltage Holdings, LLC. The respondents included Doe #1.

- Subject Matter: The appellant moved for default judgment against the respondents for direct copyright infringement and authorizing copyright infringement of its film Revolt. First, the appellant alleged that the respondents directly infringed its copyright by making a protected work available for download online when it posted or uploaded the work. Second, the appellant argued that the respondents authorized an unknown person to directly infringe its copyright. The Federal Court dismissed the motion under r. 210(1) of the Federal Courts Rules, S.O.R./98-106. The appellant challenged the Federal Court’s decision.

- Ruling: The appeal court ruled in the respondents’ favour and dismissed the appeal. It held that the defendants’ lack of participation in litigation did not offset the plaintiff’s lack of evidence, given the facts of the case and the relatively early stage of the litigation. The appeal court added that the Federal Court had no obligation to draw an adverse inference at this stage of the litigation merely because the respondents, by their silence, failed to present sufficient evidence to rebut the appellant’s allegations.

- Date: The hearing was set on Mar. 28, 2023. The court released its decision on Sept. 27, 2023.

- Venue: This was a federal case before the Federal Court of Appeal.

- Amount: No financial award was specified.