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Is Web Scraping Legal in Canada?

Web scraping is legal in Canada and the usual web scraping laws and regulations apply: scraping of public or personal data is legal, but scraping of private or copyrighted data can be illegal. Canada shares similar copyright and privacy laws with the US and EU, so the same rules apply to web scraping in Canada.

Like any other copyright law this law protects the rights of creators of original works, including websites, so scraping a website may infringe on the copyright of the website owner if it reproduces (copies) copyrighted content without permission.

Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)

This law regulates the collection and use of personally identifiable information such names, addresses etc. However, it doesn't directly relate to web scraping if these details are already publicly available on the website. That being said, storing and using this acquired data can be legally complicated or even illegal.

Notable Cases

Legal precedence is yet to be established in Canada regarding web scraping. However, there have been a few notable cases:

Yellow Pages v. Expressions Hair Design (2020)

Yellow Pages (YP), a Canadian online directory and media company, sued Expressions Hair Design, a small hair salon business, for using automated software to scrape YP's website for business information. Yellow Pages claimed that Expressions Hair Design used the information obtained from the scraping to update its own website and improve its own online presence, which Yellow Pages argued was a violation of the company's terms of use and copyright infringement.

In this case, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that Expressions Hair Design had engaged in unauthorized access to Yellow Pages' website and used the data obtained from the scraping to compete with Yellow Pages. The court also ruled that Expressions Hair Design had committed copyright infringement by reproducing Yellow Pages' content on its own website.

The court ordered Expressions Hair Design to stop scraping Yellow Pages' website and using the data obtained, and also awarded damages to Yellow Pages. This case serves as an example that scraping data from a website without the website owner's permission can be illegal.

It's important to note that the laws and regulations regarding web scraping are subject to change, and it's best to consult with a legal professional for the most up-to-date information. And also this case is not a precedent, as it's a decision from a lower court and it's not binding on other courts.

Competition Bureau of Canada v. Canadian Real Estate Association (2016)

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) lost a legal battle against the Competition Bureau of Canada over access to the CREA's data feed, which the Bureau claimed was being used as a barrier to entry for new competitors in the real estate industry. The Federal Court of Canada ruled that the CREA's data feed was not protected by copyright and that the Bureau had the right to access it.

Equustek Solutions Inc. v. Google Inc. (2013)

While this case isn't directly related to web scraping it is related to indexing and repurposing of public data

In 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the case of Equustek Solutions Inc. v. Google Inc. that Google must remove certain search results globally that linked to websites that were infringing on Equustek's trade secrets. This case set a precedent for Canadian courts to be able to order search engines to de-index websites that are in violation of Canadian laws.