Published on the 08/04/2015 | Written by Beverley Head
A landmark Federal Court Decision will force leading ISPs in Australia to hand over the names and addresses of 4,726 people who may have illegally copied a movie over the internet…
Internet piracy has long proven a vexed issue for rights holders given internet users’ ability to use peer-to-peer file sharing systems such as BitTorrent to download movies without proper authority.
In 2009 the Federal Court heard a case brought by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), essentially a loose coalition of Hollywood Studios, which took iiNet to court in an attempt to force it to stop its customers accessing the PirateBay website. The matter eventually went to the High Court where it was dismissed in 2012.
In this latest action Dallas Buyers Club and Voltage Pictures launched an action against iiNet, Internode, Amnet Broadband, Dodo Services, Adam Internet and Wideband Networks. They sought the court’s support for preliminary discovery to identify a subset of these companies’ customers, who were the people that they wished to sue.
The applicants said that they had identified 4,726 unique IP addresses from which their film was shared online using BitTorrent, that this occurred without their permission and that it was a breach of Australia’s copyright laws.
Justice Perram yesterday ordered the ISPs to divulge the names and physical addresses of customers associated with the 4,726 IP addresses, but also imposed a series of conditions on the applicants.
First, the information was only to be used to recover compensation for infringements and not to be otherwise disclosed. Justice Perram has also said that he will vet and approve any letters which are sent to those people.
Finally, the applicants must also pay all costs of the proceedings.
While the ISPs still have the opportunity to appeal the findings, yesterday’s decision has been heralded as an important precedent in the fight against copyright theft.
Australia is currently seeking to tighten copyright legislation in order to clamp down on online piracy. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull last month introduced the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 to Parliament which, if passed, would require Australian ISPs to disable access to international copyright infringing sites.
Meanwhile ISPs themselves, under the aegis of the Communications Alliance and led by Telstra Bigpond, Optus, iiNet, iPrimus and Internode, have been developing a code of conduct intended to clamp down on online piracy. That code has today been submitted to the Australian Communications and Media Authority for registration.
If ACMA registers the Copyright Notice Scheme Code 2015 it will apply to around 70 of Australia’s largest ISPs.
