Oz Court exonerates ISP of Copyright Infringement Charges

A group of exuberant internet service providers operating in the United Kingdom must have enjoyed as well as welcomed a fresh verdict given by the Australian Federal Court that a broadband provider of down under, which was accused of allowing copyright infringement by its customers was not responsible for the offense.

As a matter of fact, accusation was made against the Australian internet service provider, iiNet by the Australian Federation against Theft of Copyright, on the grounds of authorising theft of copyright content by its customers. The case was brought forth by a joint force including all major studios of Hollywood.

The judge, following a trial hearing, ruled that whilst the ISP provided the means for downloading copyright content for its customers, it hardly authorised infringement; and the blame was put on Bit Torrent, the P2P application.

According to the judgment that ruled out iiNet’s involvement in the infringements, the violations of copyright had directly occurred as a result of the use of the P2P application Bit Torrent system and not the internet use. It further noted that the respondent neither created nor controlled the P2P application, furthermore it also did not enjoy the power to prevent the occurring of those infringements.

In the United Kingdom, the government has already proposed that the broadband providers operating in the country must be held responsible for issuing warning letters, and potentially disconnecting the broadband internet connections of still persisting illegal filesharers.