★★★★★ 0/5

iiNet copyright case heading to High Court

The court case over illegal downloads between movie studios and Seven against ISP isn't done just yet.

12
Leave a comment

The landmark copyright case between film studios and ISP iiNET looks set to head to the High Court, after lodging an application for special leave to appeal a Federal Court decision.

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) is acting on behalf of 34 companies including the Seven Network.

Federal Court judge Justice Dennis Cowdroy, previously found the Perth-based ISP was not responsible for the infringements of its users and that they should not be held responsible for what their users send over the internet.

AFACT claims the studios lost an appeal on a narrow technical issue revolving around the quality of the notices and that the court accepted many of its legal arguments.

But iiNet chief executive Michael Malone today said, “We have already won this case in the federal court and the appeals court. There’s no surprise that they are applying to appeal of course.

“But now, as always, we continue to say that the we did not and do not encourage copyright infringement. To the contrary, iiNet has done more than any other ISP to license legitimate content for our customers and to partner with rights holders to work on legal alternatives like our Freezone and our Fetch TV service. We will defend this (again) if it moves to the High Court.”

Malone said litigation is not the solution to illegal downloads.

“Three years now and it hasn’t done a thing to address the problem. The studios need to move on. Australians want their content, so the right solution is to give them a legitimate way to get it.”

The hearing is likely to take place around August or September but the matter may not be resolved until late this year or early 2012 if AFACT is successful in its application to take the matter to the High Court.

Source: The Australian, Smarthouse

12 Responses

  1. They went after iiNet because they have deals with Telstra to sell movies.

    When this gets rejected again, I’ll just laugh. Think of the Australian movies and TV series they could have funded?

    Mind you, if they lose this, I hear illegal DVDs come in via Australia Post, they must sue them next.

    What a waste of everyones time! Build a bloody bridge already.

  2. @Goonies: they went after iiNet because they’re a comparatively small company with far less cash for legal battles than behemoths like Telstra.

    In a week where bullying has been in the news, it’s ironic that AFACT and its cabal of 34 companies continues to beat up on the small guy who did nothing to deserve it.

  3. FWIW a law students opinion – they have no chance of being granted special leave, this is usually only done in exceptional circumstances and furthermore there must be a substantive error of law, all they can show is a slight technicality in evidence Haha good luck

  4. AFACT and the studios it represents are living in the 1900’s. They are following exactly the same course of action as some of the studios did when the VCR was invented. More recently music companies went thru something similar before eventually seeing the light and embracing iTunes and the like.

    Instead of wasting more money attacking an innocent service provider and trying to plug an un-pluggable hole, they should be reaping the benefits of having invested in new distribution models. They are 5 years behind the curve and continue to fall further back. Their shareholders should be roasting them.

  5. iiNet chief executive Michael Malone today said litigation is not the solution to illegal downloads.

    ““Three years now and it hasn’t done a thing to address the problem. The studios need to move on. Australians want their content, so the right solution is to give them a legitimate way to get it.””

    Probably the most intelligent comment I’ve heard in this whole mess, if the commercial TV stations want viewers to watch their channels, ‘give them a legitimate way to get it’. How hard is it? Human Target, Smallville, Supernatural, Bedlam, The Event, Sanctaury, Endame, Outcasts, Monroe, Marchlands, Mad Dogs, Merlin, Hustle, Zen, Primeval Thorne etc these are the programmes my demographic wants. Instead we are inflicted with a barrage of boring, repetitive and far from entertaining US so-called drama and comedy as well as never-ending reality shows.

    Not all of us can afford pay tv or even want it

  6. Coming up next week on AFACT’s Crazy Adventures: AFACT discovers people recording music from radio using cassette tapes; takes radio stations to court!

    Then the week after: AFACT takes QANTAS and other airlines to court; claims the airlines aid copyright infringement by taking Australians to other countries where they might see TV shows without the permission of local networks!

    And the week after that: AFACT takes iiNet to court. (Repeat)

  7. What’s next? Are the ISPs going to be responsible for people who download child-porn?
    Is this against iinet because they’re a bit smaller than Bigpond, Optus, 3, AAPT, TPG, etc.?

Leave a Reply