Appeal lodged in iiNet copyright case

25 Feb 2010, 4:28 pm   -   Source: AAP
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A landmark ruling earlier this month found in favour of iiNet (AAP)

A landmark ruling earlier this month found in favour of iiNet (AAP)

A landmark legal stoush over illegal downloads is set to continue with a consortium of 34 movie studios appealing a Federal Court ruling.
 

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A landmark legal stoush over illegal downloads is set to continue with a consortium of 34 movie studios appealing a Federal Court ruling.

The studios, headed by Village Roadshow and including News Ltd's Twentieth Century Fox and Seven Network Ltd, lodged the appeal in Sydney on Thursday against the judgment earlier this month in their case against internet service provider iiNet Ltd.

They had sought to prove iiNet failed to take steps to stop illegal file-sharing by customers, and breached copyright itself by storing the data and transmitting it through its system.

Justice Dennis Cowdroy ruled it was impossible to hold iiNet responsible for what its customers did online.

Speaking on behalf of the studios, the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) said the judgment had left an unworkable online environment for content creators and providers, and represented a serious threat to Australia's digital economy.

"The court found large scale copyright infringements, that iiNet knew they were occurring, that iiNet had the contractual and technical capacity to stop them and iiNet did nothing about them," AFACT executive director Neil Gane said in a statement.

"In line with previous case law, this would have amounted to authorisation of copyright infringement."

The chief executive of iiNet, Michal (Michal) Malone, said the decision to prolong legal action was disappointing.

"It is more than disappointing and frustrating that the studios have chosen this unproductive path," Mr Malone said in a statement.

"This legal case has not stopped one illegal download and further legal appeals will not stop piracy."

He repeated his call for studios to make their content more readily and cheaply available online.

The notice of appeal filed by the studios contains 15 grounds of appeal.

A hearing will begin later this year.
 

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Your Comments

Pathetic!

Stuart Shields - from Toowoomba, 2 years ago

I think it's a pathetic road these content distributors are taking. They are losing heaps of money by taking companies like iinet to court. Just change how their online presence is! Make it cheaper for the consumer and we won't download! $40 for a bluray? $30 for a new release dvd? Come on!

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