Australian ISP iiNet this afternoon said its victory in the Federal Court was a vindication of the claim that it had never supported or encouraged illegal behaviour amongst its users.

Justice Cowdroy today handed iiNet a sound victory in the Australian ISP’s long-running battle against a coalition of film and television studios, finding that iiNet did not authorise copyright infringement carried out by its customers using the BitTorrent file-sharing platform.

“We have never supported or encouraged breaches of the law, including infringement of the Copyright Act or the Telecommunications Act,” the ISP said in a statement following the judgement. “Today’s judgement is a vindication of that, and the allegations against us have been proven to be unfounded.

The ISP said the judgement marked “the end of the matter” and it would get on with its busness, noting it had continued to grow customers and revenue during the trial, as well as launching products and signing agreements with a number of content providers.

“We are eager to engage with the film industry and copyright holders to make this material legitimately available,” the company said.

iiNet had suspended trading of its shares on the Australian Stock Exchange this morning while the judgement was handed down. However, upon resumption of trading this afternoon, the company’s share price immediately rose by 11.11 per cent. At the time of publication it was trading at $2.20.

Look out for our one on one interview with iiNet chief executive Michael Malone later today.

Related posts:

1. AFACT will appeal iiNet verdict
2. iiNet wins video piracy trial
3. Appeal won’t stop illegal downloads: iiNet
4. iiNet wants it all in AFACT case
5. Judge: iiNet did not authorise infringement