The iiNet case
April 21st, 2012 at 9:56 am by David FarrarStuff reports:
Alleged internet pirate Kim Dotcom may be able to breathe a little easier after a landmark Australian High Court ruling that found internet provider iiNet was not responsible for illegal file-sharing by its users.
However, a law professor has warned millions of dollars of assets seized by police may never be returned to Dotcom, even if a bid to extradite him to the United States fails.
The chief executive of iiNet, Michael Malone, said the unanimous ruling by five judges, who dismissed an appeal by Hollywood studios that iiNet was a party to internet piracy by its customers, had ended three years of legal argument costing A$9 million (NZ$11.4m).
The Australian Financial Review said it was a test case of “global significance”.
Auckland lawyer Rick Shera said the ruling would be influential in New Zealand and was a positive development for Megaupload founder Dotcom and his co-accused.
“At its heart, Megaupload is about the responsibility of an online service provider for its users’ activity and that was exactly the core issue in the iiNet trial,” he said. While evidence in the two cases as to whether the companies encouraged piracy was not the same, Dotcom’s was a criminal prosecution, so the burden of proof needed to be stronger, he said.
However, Otago University law professor Andrew Geddis was cautious of drawing parallels between the cases, noting that while internet providers such as iiNet were essentially only conduits for file sharing, Megaupload hosted files on its servers.
The outcome of the Australian court is excellent. It is worth noting that the MPAA had lost the original case, the appeal and now this second appeal.
However like Prof Geddis I would be cautious about thinking what impact it may have on the Meagupload case, as there is a difference between merely providing access to the Internet, and providing a file upload and download service.
April 21st, 2012 at 10:54 am
The Herald reports a US judge speculating the Dotcom case may never get to trial at all.
Vote:April 21st, 2012 at 11:06 am
Here it is:
“The criminal charges against Kim Dotcom in the United States may never get to trial, the judge overseeing the case has told the FBI…United States district court judge Liam O’Grady said he didn’t know if “we are ever going to have a trial in this matter” after being told Dotcom’s file-sharing company had never been formally served with criminal papers by the US…”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10800409
Let me see if I’ve got this straight: no valid paperwork existed in the US or NZ when armed police assaulted a man’s house.
Vote:April 21st, 2012 at 11:09 am
… And destroyed his business and confiscated his assets. Innocent until proven guilty?
Vote:April 21st, 2012 at 3:18 pm
That’s good news for iiNet. I think an incoming Republican administration in the US will forgrt all about Kimdotcom. Nobody could accuse them of being in bed with Hollywood.
cheers
David Prosser
Vote:April 21st, 2012 at 4:19 pm
Yep as predicted on Day 1 the NZ taxpayer is looking more and more likely to be the bloody fall guy again for incompetent Ministers and their minions.
Time hard questions were asked of the main players in the no surprises policy at Cabinet and the Police.
This is an Epic Fail.
http://screencast.com/t/wjcBmk7IrO
Do Lan Richie you don’t get it…IT’s DIGITAL there for a copy can be created a million times in seconds
Vote:7 hours ago · Like · 1
Alex Howarth When i download something i like, i pay for it when i can afford it. if it weren’t for downloading i’d still be buying crap i dont really need/want. That’s all the corpratocracy wants. Even if they have to drag me kicking and screaming into prison they wont get it
7 hours ago · Like · 2
Ray Balmforth If things was priced fairly no one would need to pirate…ie channel perfume £60 a bottle or a copy at £3.00 which smells identical…All comes down to greed by over pricing original item.
April 21st, 2012 at 9:19 pm
Let me see if I’ve got this straight: no valid paperwork existed in the US or NZ when armed police assaulted a man’s house.
Wat I hope if true that the minister down resign or are sacked, including the head of the NZpolice Unit.
Vote: