Internet Industry Association

The Internet Industry Association welcomes the Federal Court judgment Roadshow Films Pty Ltd v iiNet Limited (includes summary) (No. 3) [2010] FCA 24 (4 February 2010) as one of the most significant for ISPs and intermediaries generally.

The court concluded that iiNet did not authorise copyright infringement for three reasons:

• first because the copyright infringements occurred directly as a result of the use of the BitTorrent system, not the use of the internet, and the respondent did not create and does not control the BitTorrent system;
• second because the respondent did not have a relevant power to prevent those infringements occurring; and
• third because the respondent did not sanction, approve or countenance copyright infringement.

IIA chief executive, Peter Coroneos along with its legal advisers on the case, Clayton Utz have convened an expert panel to debrief IIA members on the implications of the judgment in the days following the decision. 

It was a test case for the new copyright laws passed in 2006. The central issue was whether, and in what circumstances, an ISP should bear legal liability for the infringing acts of third parties. Despite the judgement, it could also be appealed to the Full Federal Court, and possibly the High Court of Australia, by either party. 

The industry briefing will be chaired by Peter Coroneos, with a presentation from the lead lawyers for the IIA, John Fairbairn, a litigation lawyer and specialist in intellectual property and technology law and Tim Webb. International expert on copyright law and law professor at QUT, Brian Fitzgerald will also take part. 

Regardless of the decision in iiNet, the safe harbour regime remains in urgent need of reform. At present it protects only carriage service providers. In the future it must recognise and protect a wider range of intermediaries, in particular online content hosts, libraries and search portals. This is something the IIA will continue to pursue in 2010.

Globally, pressure from the copyright industry for ISPs to regulate the activities of those who subscribe to their internet services is mounting through multi-country negotiations for an Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). 

VENUE: Sydney

TIME: 4:30pm,Tuesday 9 February 2010

BY REGISTRATION ONLY: by COB Mon 8 Feb: emelia@iia.net.au or (02) 62326900