A landmark decision in the Federal Court this week - that an internet service provider was not liable for illegal downloading by its users - is unlikely to stop movie studios and other media producers lobbying for more legal protection, says a Queensland specialist in intellectual property and technology law.
Perth-based internet service provider iiNet, the third largest ISP in Australia, successfully defended proceedings brought against it by 34 media companies, including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. The applicants claimed that iiNet was liable for copyright infringement because it authorised its customers to access the internet to use file sharing programs to download movies and other media.
According to Michael Morris, head of HopgoodGanim’s Intellectual Property and Technology practice, the applicants in this case are likely to explore other legal channels to protect themselves against copyright infringement.
“It’s probable that they will either appeal the decision or look for a legislative response to address the ongoing problem of online piracy,” he says. “At the moment, companies and copyright holders have no effective legal protection against copyright infringement carried out on the internet. Business models and legislation haven’t kept up with the advances in technology we’ve seen over the past few years.”
Mr Morris adds that it’s often impractical for studios to sue individual offenders, as online copyright infringement is widespread and taking legal action against individual offenders is difficult to justify from a public relations perspective.
He says the applicants may instead look to push for legislative changes. For example, in the United Kingdom, a ‘three strikes’ policy requires ISPs to provide three warnings to repeat infringers, after which internet access is terminated.
“The judge pointed out that all iiNet did was provide its users with access to the internet. It’s unfortunate that some of these users then used file sharing programs and infringed copyright, but holding iiNet accountable for this would be like holding Australia Post accountable for the contents of the letters they deliver”.
According to Mr Morris, this is certain to be one of the most important Court decisions this year in the area of copyright law.
“This trial was the first of its kind in the world to go as far as hearing and judgement,” he said.
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Esther Cohen, Communications Advisor
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