AFACT v iiNet: Judge denies Internet Industry Association application to be heard in the trial

IIA's submission ruled irrelevant in landmark copyright court case

The Internet Industry Association’s (IIA) application to be heard in the trial between Perth ISP iiNet and AFACT was rejected by the Federal Court today, after its submission was ruled irrelevant.

AFACT objected to iiNet’s intervention because the submission did not provide any information that had not already been heard in court.

"The court acknowledges that the fact that the IIA could not be considered impartial is irrelevant. Equally, it is irrelevant that the IIA happens to have a perspective which is aligned with one of the parties and not the other,” stated Justice Cowdry in a written ruling.

The case between iiNet and a group of 34 music and movie companies represented by the Australian Federation against Copyright Theft (AFACT) drew to an end today after closing submissions from AFACT.

AFACT claimed iiNet gave authorisation for the countless copyright infringements and did not prevent the infringements by their refusal to identify and terminate the customer accounts.

Although iiNet said it did not have the power to prevent the illegal sharing of music and movies files, AFACT insists that the step of threatening to terminate and then terminating the account identified as infringing copyright is seen as a method of prevention.

“It’s not an order designed to punish, it’s an order established to prevent,” said the chief barrister of AFACT, Tony Bannon SC.

He added that iiNet encouraged the download of illegal media as it continued to offer its service and did not intervene, thereby giving authorisation for downloads.

The ISP iiNet pleads its case according to Section 112E of the copyright act, which states:

"A person (including a carrier or carriage service provider) who provides facilities for making, or facilitating the making of, a communication is not taken to have authorised any infringement of copyright in an audio visual item merely because another person uses the facilities so provided to do something the right to do which is included in the copyright."

iiNet further argues that since the company does not own BitTorrent, it is not liable for the downloads from the sites.

Bannon refuted this claim, stating that without iiNet’s facilities, by providing internet connection, its customers would not be able to download copyright material from the sites.

The trial concludes today and but a verdict on the case is expected to take months.

Read more about the landmark AFACT v iiNet copyright case.

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More about: ACT, IIA, iiNet, Internet Industry Association, Linux
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Comments

1

Eric

Fri 27/11/2009 - 18:18

Music companies and Movie industry are infact breaching Australia constitutional laws which allow Australian to obtain any material or product for personal usage including copying, selling and sharing among neighbours and or any other media source under freedom clause.

This in a nut shell allows every citizen the right to share copyright material.

The copyright laws are infact invalid under Australian constitutional law and our high court does not have the power nor our government to override them as state under charter 64 of the contitutional laws without a referedum on freedom of right.

2

Anonymous

Sat 28/11/2009 - 12:06

This is NOT a trial, it is a witch-hunt, and I hope to God that justice and common-sense prevail, and that AFACT loses this sham trial.

To hell with them.

3

Anonymous

Mon 30/11/2009 - 09:41

Agreed. This is a sham trial.

Given the difficulty and expense vs reward ratio for prosecuting individuals, AFACT has tried to make a "statement" by suing iiNET.

They must think they can't really lose. Even if AFACT loses the trial (which I hope it does) it will have broadcast its threat message to the public and to iSP's quite effectively.

Suing iiNET in a case like this is like suing the Roads and Traffic Authority because criminals use their roads to move stolen goods about.

This industry has disgraced itself by its actions. In addition to suing iiNET, look at the pursuit of individuals in the US for damages which are entirely dispropotionate to the value obtained from the song or movie the illegal downloader hase pirated is astonishing. Armed robbers get lower penalties than they are pursuing in the US for copyright infringement. Where is the equity in punishment?

Whilst I do not support the view that illegal downloading of copyright material is acceptable and do not personally engage in such activity, this course of action by copyright owners significantly lessens my concern for their wellbeing.

This trial is not about whether it is ok for end users to download copyrighted material.

Downloading pirated material is not ok. It is also not ok to lose all perspective in an aggressive pursuit of distorted justice. The punishment they seek is so overblown compared to the crime. This makes them look like greedy, soul-less goons. The sort who I would NOT want to support by purchasing their material.

So, whilst I'm not going to illegally download, I will also reduce my purchasing of material. Abstinence. If the collective response is similar it might show them that their behaviour is not valid when measured by societal norms. I would like to see artists voicing their opinions about such aggressive and over the top litigation, which is essentially performed on their behalf.

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