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Judge ‘unleashes’ Hollywood’s copyright revenge

AAP

AAP

A court verdict in favour of movie makers may ‘open the floodgates’ for threats and legal action against illegal downloaders, experts have warned.

On Tuesday, the Federal Court allowed the owners of the film Dallas Buyers Club to obtain the details of more than 4700 Australians who used unlawful streaming sites to watch the movie.

Six internet providers (iiNet, Dodo, Internode, Amnet Broadband, Adam Internet and Wideband) lost their legal battle to protect their customers’ names, email addresses and home addresses.

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HopgoodGanim partner Hayden Delaney, a copyright expert, told Sky News the decision “marks a line in the sand” for illegal downloaders.

“It could rely open the floodgates to see a lot of litigation against the end users rather than the telcos,” Mr Delaney said.

AAP

iiNet says its failed legal challenge has nevertheless protected customers from ‘bullying’. Photo: AAP

In other countries, Dallas Buyers Club’s owners have sent pay-up-or-else notices, known as ‘speculative invoices’, which demand thousands of dollars in compensation to avoid court action.

Justice Nye Perram recognised the risk of this occurring in Australia, and required any letters be sent to him first for approval — a move welcomed by at least one of the internet providers involved.

But a spokeswoman for consumer group CHOICE said the decision will embolden other “aggressive” rights holders to pursue “many more cases”, and warned proposed changes to the copyright code would remove judicial oversight.

“This is really the start of rights holders aggressively enforcing their rights, possibly to the detriment of Australians, whether they illegally download or not,” CHOICE campaigns manager Erin Turner told The New Daily.

If the copyright infringement code under consideration goes ahead, internet providers may be unable to fight copyright holders like they did in this case, Ms Turner said.

“It’ll be more of a rubber stamp process, and there may not be this oversight in the future.”

In this case, Dallas Buyers Club owners reportedly used a German tech firm to find the unique internet addresses of 4726 people who illegally downloaded the film.

The decision “potentially paves the way” for so-called speculative invoicing in future, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) agreed.

These invoices may target the wrong people, ACCAN spokesman Luke Sutton said.

“Consumers who live in share houses or those who haven’t properly secured their Wi-Fi may be open to false claims made by rights holders,” he said.

“This will be an issue for less tech savvy consumers who are unsure of how to properly secure their internet connections.”

ACCAN urged anyone who receives a letter from the Dallas Buyers Club copyright holders to seek legal advice before taking any action.

Those who prefer to to purchase their entertainment legally can join streaming services such as Netflix and Stan, or buy content individually on iTunes.

—with reporting by Dan Moss.

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