iiNet will take on the Australian film and television industry as it stands to “vigorously defend” the Federal Court action filed yesterday by broadcasters and film studios alleging that the ISP has encouraged customers to download films illegally using BitTorrent.
On Thursday the Seven Network, Village Roadshow, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox and Disney filed the action in the Federal Court. The companies are seeking a ruling that iiNet infringed copyright law through its lack of action to stop users from illegal file sharing practices over BitTorrent networks. The group are seeking an order forcing iiNet to prevent its customers from engaging in copyright infringement over its network.
The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), said the action followed a five-month investigation by the industry. AFACT claim that there are “thousands of infringements of copyright” by iiNet’s customers and that iiNet was warned about the illegal activity in 18 separate notices.
iiNet MD Michael Malone said iiNet does not in any way support or encourage breaches of the law, including infringement of copyright. He said iiNet had not breached any laws and had repeatedly passed on copyright holders’ complaints to law enforcement agencies for investigation.
“iiNet has been leading the industry in making content available legally through our Media Lounge, including agreements with iTunes, ABC iView, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Cruizin’, Macquarie Digital TV, NASA Television, Barclays Premier League football, Drift Racing 2007 and classic highlights of golf’s four Majors,” Malone said.
He added that iiNet’s Customer Relations Agreement clearly spells out that customers must comply with the law and that our service must not be used “to commit an offence or to infringe another person’s rights”.
However the ISP cannot disconnect a customer’s phone line based on an allegation. “The alleged offence needs to be pursued by the police and proven in courts. iiNet would then be able to disconnect the service as it had been proven that the customer had breached our Customer Relations Agreement,” Malone said.
The case will be back before the court on December 17.
