Google V. Equustek Solutions: The Cost of Doing Business?

Whether this is a simple case of the cost of doing business or just another case of insisting that Internet service providers and search engines become Internet police, there should be better parameters in place to protect the freedom of speech and prevent the abuse of the system.

- Lisa Macklem

The Supreme Court of Canada heard arguments in Google Inc. v. Equustek Solutions Inc., et al. on December 6, 2016. The proceedings were webcast live. The case began in British Columbia and proceeded to the Supreme Court via Equustek Solutions Inc. v. Google Inc., 2015 BCCA 265, heard on October 27 and 28, 2014, with additional submissions on December 4, 22, and 23, 2014 and a final judgment from the British Columbia Court of Appeal on June 11, 2015. This case’s importance was summed up by Michael Geist in The Globe and Mail on December 13, 2016: “a case that strikes at the heart of law in the online world.” The case garners international interest because of the scope of its central concern about jurisdiction in relation to the Internet. Does any country - in this case Canada - have the authority to block search results outside its own borders?

The case stems from a dispute between Equustek Solutions Inc. and Data link Technologies Gateways LLC (Equustek Solutions Inc. v. Jack, 2012 BCSC 1490). The two entities had been in business together for a number of years with Equustek designing and manufacturing industrial network interface products and Data link acting as distributors and sales agents. When this relationship broke down, Equustek took over its own marketing, and Data link developed an interface heavily reliant on that developed by Equustek. The competing product, GW1000, was designed using Equustek’s trade secrets. Equustek sought a Mareva injunction to protect its trade secrets which Justice R Punnett granted.