Studios push for copyright law change

The federal government is under pressure to change copyright law after a damaging blow was dealt to the giants of the film industry in the High Court on Thursday, 19 April 2012.
 

The five judges unanimously dismissed the film studios' appeal in their landmark piracy case against iiNet and awarded the internet service provider costs. The studios had argued that by not acting to prevent illegal file sharing on its customer network, iiNet was essentially ''authorising'' the activity and was therefore liable.

But, in a summary judgment, the High Court observed iiNet ''had no direct technical power'' to prevent its customers from downloading movies and TV shows illegally using BitTorrent, a popular protocol used to share files online.

The court said that iiNet's power to prevent customers illegally downloading ''was limited to an indirect power to terminate its contractual relationship with its customers''.

Click here to read more.

Stay current, contact TimeBase for a free trial of our Intellectual Property Point-in-Time product for Australian Legislation.