A Federal Court ruling may see Australians escape the consequences of illegally downloading the 2013 American biographical drama.

Copyright holders of Dallas Buyers Club (DBC) sought reparations for illegitimate download of the film, calling for ISPs to be forced to hand over personal details of illegal downloaders.

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Dallas Buyers Club was released in 2013. Photo: Pinnacle Films

But when the case went before the Federal Court today, Justice Nye Perram ruled in favour of the ISPs, noting as DBC had “no presence in Australia the Court [would be] unable to punish it for contempt if it fails to honour” the agreed use of any information obtained.

Justice Perram dismissed the application from DBC.

“The purpose of the stay and the Court’s consideration of the correspondence was to ensure that DBC did not engage in what the respondent ISPs referred to as ‘speculative invoicing’,” he stated.

“DBC has now sought to lift the stay and has proffered to the Court several versions of what it proposes to say to the account holders, together with an undertaking only to communicate in those terms.

“I have concluded that what DBC proposes ought not be permitted.”

The applicants had targeted six Australian telcos – iiNet, Internode, Dodo, Amnet, Adam Internet and Wideband Networks – associated with more than 4700 IP addresses that were used to share the movie using BitTorrent.

He set a $600,000 bond to obtain any information, provided DBC enters into an undertaking to limit the use of the personal information.

Nearly 5,000 people who downloaded the film without permission had been told to expect letters demanding payment for the downloads, after the Federal Court in April ordered ISPs to hand over their customers’ personal details.

Dallas Buyers Club LLC’s parent company, Voltage Pictures, used German-based firm Maverick Eye UG to hunt down those sharing the film using software such as BitTorrent, and uncovered the total of 4,726 IP addresses.

In April, DBC gave illegal downloaders in Singapore three days to pay a fine of their own choosing.