Featured, News - Tuesday, April 20, 2010 7:48 - 0 Comments

iiNet, Pirate Party slam AFACT political moves

Broadband provider iiNet and the Australian division of the Pirate Party have come out swinging in response to apparent moves by content providers to nudge the Federal Government about potential legislation to stop copyright infringement.

In an article published by the Australian yesterday, the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), which represents groups such as movie studios and was recently unsuccessful in its BitTorrent infringement lawsuit against iiNet, said the current state of Australian copyright law was “a threat to our digital economy” and appeared to suggest new legislation was necessary.

Subsequent to the iiNet trial, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy indicated the parties and industry should move towards a solution, but the Australian’s article said AFACT was complaining that ISPs were refusing to negotiate.

But in a statement yesterday, iiNet said the claim was “completely untrue”.

“In fact, a number of Australian ISPs, including iiNet, have successfully negotiated with rights holders for a range of online rights such as Village Roadshow, Fox Sports and Bloomberg,” iiNet said. “On the very day iiNet comprehensively won in the Federal Court, chief executive officer Michael Malone renewed his call [for negotiation on the court case], saying he was eager to engage with the film industry and copyright holders.”

Continue…