AFACT v iiNet: D-day for AFACT appeal against iiNet copyright ruling

Deadline looms Thursday but AFACT remains silent on appeal possibility
Deadline for appeal is Thursday

Deadline for appeal is Thursday

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) has yet to make an announcement regarding a possible appeal to the Federal Court decision in the landmark copyright case against iiNet.

The deadline for the appeal is Thursday, February 25 — the same day the two parties meet again in court for a directions hearing over court costs.

“All I can tell you is that the deadline for filing an appeal is Thursday,” an AFACT spokesperson told Computerworld.

Justice Cowdroy dismissed the case brought by AFACT against iiNet, following a five-month investigation that uncovered instances of copyright infringements by users of iiNet’s services. Despite findings of copyright infringement by iiNet customers, Justice Cowdroy found the ISP did not authorise the acts of its customers.

AFACT will use the hearing on Thursday to try to recoup court costs in sections of the case and will also claim for expenditure during what the group says were delays by iiNet in admitting the presence of copyright infringements on its network.

AFACT represents several large film companies including Village Roadshow, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Disney Enterprises and the Seven Network.

Melbourne University associate professor, David Brennan, has said an appeal is likely and interested parties are "probably looking at 2011 or 2012 before a final judicial determination".

More about: ACT, Brennan, etwork, iiNet, Paramount Pictures, Seven Network, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox, Village Roadshow, Warner Bros
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Comments

1

Code

Wed 24/02/2010 - 13:45

Firstly, let me say that I think piracy is wrong. However I also think it is wrong that AFACT thinks that it is an ISPs responsibility to police the actions of users of it's network, that is ridiculous. If content creators and providers provided a product that was value for money and that offered people a good reason to actually buy the content, then there is a good chance that a lot of them would. Sure, some people would still pirate stuff, but it was an issue even in the days before the internet, and in those cases it's not a matter of lost sales, as those people would never purchase anyway.
You lost, AFACT, there is no point wasting time appealing (if that is what you choose to do), maybe that time and energy could be better spent helping the content creators you support to develop better business models to make use of, and leverage, the many sales opportunities that are available on the internet.
The lawyers are the only people that will win if you choose to appeal.

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