Perth-founded internet service provider iiNet has been drawn into a piracy battle with a Hollywood movie maker.
Perth-founded internet service provider iiNet has been drawn into a piracy battle with a Hollywood movie maker.
Dallas Buyers Club LLC, which owns rights to the film of the same name released in 2013, has lodged an application in the Australian Federal Court for iiNet and other internet service providers to release information.
The court lodgement comes more than two years after the High Court dismissed a claim that iiNet was authorising illegal use of copyrighted material and determined it had no obligation to provide customer details to rights holders.
The company also later bowed out of negotiations for a trial that would involve ISPs giving customers notice if they were suspected of illegal activity.
Dallas Buyers Club wants the ISPs to give up the names and contact details of customers they believe may have illegally shared the film.
However iiNet has staunchly announced it will fight the order to release information on the basis that it doesn’t believe customers would get a fair hearing if it were to do so.
In a blog post, chief regulatory officer Steve Dalby said iiNet had serious concerns about Dallas Buyers Club’s intentions.
“It might seem reasonable for a movie studio to ask us for the identity of those they suspect are infringing on their copyright,’’ he wrote.
“Yet, this would only make sense if the movie studio intended to use this information fairly, including to allow the alleged infringer their day in court in order to argue their case.
“In this case we have serious concerns about Dallas Buyers Club’s intentions. We are concerned that our customers will be unfairly targeted to settle any claims out of court using a practice called ‘speculative invoicing’.”
It is now up to the court to determine whether iiNet should be forced to hand over the details.
The makers of Dallas Buyers Club were understood to have filed 66 lawsuits in the first half of this year and targeted more than 1,000 people who downloaded the film from BitTorrent.
The movie grossed $US46.8 million in international box office sales and $US27 million in America - ranking it 95th for the year.
