AFACT vs iiNet round 3
AFACT, the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, has re-booted its war with ISP iiNet after getting clearance to appeal its case to the High Court.
The Hollywood studio-backed AFACT had its case against ISP iiNet struck down twice by the Federal Court, the most recent loss in February. "Thirty-four film and television industry companies that commenced legal action against iiNet for authorising the copyright infringement of its users today welcomed the High Court decision to grant them special leave to appeal," AFACT said in a statement.
While the minority opinion in its appeal to the Federal Court endorsed some points made by the studios - particularly that iiNet could have acted against pirates, but chose not to - the majority opinion was that iiNet's actions did not amount to "authorising" copyright infringement by its users. It is this ruling that the film and TV cabal now hopes to overturn.
