Studios drop key aspect of iiNet copyright case
A key aspect in the copyright case against iiNet between movie and television organisations is withdrawn.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
In the copyright fight between iiNet brought and film and TV organisations, including the Seven Network, a key element of the case was withdrawn.
The plaintiffs had previously asserted that by operating a telecommunications system and transmitting packets of data, iiNet was guilty of the common law claim of ‘conversion’.
With the withdrawal of this claim the court has awarded iiNet some costs.
But the studios are still proceeding against iiNet, which will serve as a major case for the illegal downloading of copyright material in Australia.
iiNet’s Managing Director, Michael Malone, welcomed the withdrawal of the key element of the applicants’ claim, but said the industry organisations had been struggling to spell out their case for almost six months.
“There is still a long way to go and we will be vigorously defending the remainder of the applicants’ allegations,” Mr Malone said.
“We have always said that iiNet does not in any way support, or encourage, breaches of the law, including infringement of copyright”.
6 Responses
If people think that the -only- reason for large downloads is for illegal use (“wrong!”) then why do they think that both political parties are so keen to bring superfast broadband to most Australian households? It’s not just to watch the latest episode of “Lost'”!
Just because one person may not need it doesn’t mean that all others are in the same boat. I don’t need/want Foxtel or a big, fast car so are they pointless too?
Once all your data goes digital (voice, video & system communication, entertainment, etc) you realise the current bandwidth/volume limitations we have compared to some other countries.
I agree there are some that have legitmate use for large data limits but for the average house that is not the case. I’m not saying there needs to be a cap on it. That would be like telling people they can only use the phone for X number of minutes a day. I also agree the case is floored, iiNet is offering a service to communicate, is Telstra help responsible if someone uses a cell phone for illegal purposes?
IMO they need to resolve the reason people DL music/movies and TV shows or provide a realistic alternative people will pay to use and get the networks airing shows people want to see and putting the rest on the 2nd SD channels or PayTV or provide DLs
Craig some of us actually work in industries that require us to download large amounts of data frequently and the torrent system is an ideal way of doing that. Not every one who uses torrents is downloading something illegal.
The logic used in their pursuit against iinet is completely flawed. iinet provides an online environment for people they are not the police of that environment. The legal system needs to hurry and enter the 21st century.
The thing I don’t get is with ISPs having bigger and bigger data limits where do they think people use them, I know there is a number of legal services now like ABCs iView but really with some having 200Gb account no one ‘normal’ person can use all that data in a month unless they are on YouTube or Google Earth 24/7.
Like anything they try to ban people will find a way around it, make it user friendly and affordable and people will pay, some people thought Apple were stupid when they started iTunes but look at it now.
Why on earth would I want to support the self centered p****s at Channel Seven who show so little respect for my own rights by perpetuating the absurd and ludicrous notion of “intellectual property”?
If iiNet had a logical defence that it is illegal for them to intercept internet connections without a court order, that would basically defeat the lawsuit. I’m not a lawyer, but if they did cut off connections without the authorisation of the courts, they would be in greater trouble than if they did nothing. ISPs are more like a postal service than a television station – they merely pass on information from one place to the next, while a television station must have everything classified before broadcast. It is highly unreasonable to ask them to play the role of the law. They passed on complaints about copyright to the police. They did not just ignore everything presented to them.