ISP Wins Over Copyright Owners

In a blow to the global music and film industries, the Australian High Court on April 20 dismissed a copyright infringement appeal against Australian Internet service provider iiNet.

The five judges agreed that iiNet “had no direct technical power” to prevent its customers from illegally downloading pirated content using BitTorrent, had limited power to cut them off, and that infringement notices sent by copyright owners to iiNet did not provide the ISP “with a reasonable basis for sending warning notices to individual customers containing threats to suspend or terminate those customers.”

The four-year-old test case, brought by 34 global film studios and television companies, has cost an estimated $20 million.

iiNet’s Perth-based chief executive Michael Malone said he would seek to recover his legal costs of $9 million, adding that the case has “not stopped one illegal download.” Neil Gane, Sydney-based GM of the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, which acted for the film and TV companies, said it would now pursue legislative reform by the Australian government.