Filmmaker responds to Vancouver Aquarium in documentary lawsuit

The director of a documentary critical of keeping whales in captivity claims he is within his rights to use images to which the Vancouver Aquarium claims copyright.

In a response to a lawsuit filed by the aquarium last month, Gary Charbonneauargues his use ofthe photographs and video in Vancouver Aquarium Uncoveredis permitted by the Copyright Act.

The aquarium claims Charbonneau's movie relies on images taken from the organization's website and blog. The aquariumwantsan injunction to stop the hour-long documentary fromstreaming online.

But in his response, Charbonneau claims any use of the "allegedly copyrightedmaterial" is "fair dealing for the purpose of research and education."

He claims he's also covered under the Copyright Act because use of materialwasfor non-commercial purposes andthe source of the material was credited at the end of the film.

Agreement allegedly breached

In its lawsuit, the aquarium says Charbonneautook the imageswithout permission. Thesuit also alleges he violated the terms of a contract he signed to film on the aquarium grounds in April 2015.

Theaquarium claims he's prohibited from using the footage to raise money on a crowdfundingwebsite.

In his response, Charbonneau claims the aquarium breached the filming agreement, not him. He says he wasn't allowed to film any animals, including belugasand dolphins.

He says he was also allegedly forced to conduct rushed interviews with the aquarium's head veterinarian and vice president in noisy settings.

Charbonneau'sresponse says neither he nor his film company, Evotion, have profited from the documentary; he says any money received by the company has been used to cover expenses or to invest in advocacy.

Heclaims the documentary was taken off Vimeo after the aquarium made a copyright infringement claim. But he claimsYouTubesent him an email saying they had no plans to remove the film.

The responsealso notes that the video had received9,000 views on YouTube before the aquarium's lawsuit was publicized. Charbonneau claims it now has nearly 19,000.

Gary Charbonneau's response to civil claim