AFACT vs iiNet Appeal Day 3: Judge Doubts Ruling Will Fix Problem

[p2p rules]

During day 3 of the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft’s (AFACT) appeal hearing Justice Arthur Emmett repeatedly questioned whether or not the case will answer the question of who’s responsible for fighting copyright infringement on an ISP’s network.

“You say you don’t like the infringement of copyright and that [rights holders] are just throwing rubbish at us [the notices],” he told iiNet’s lead attorney senior counsel Richard Cobden. “Is it just a matter of who bears the cost of dealing with all this? It seems to be a continuing problem and that whatever we decide in this case isn’t going decide what goes on in the future.”

He added that he thought there should be some sort of “commercial solution” or mediation that can be employed to address copyright infringement disputes, but that either are beyond the purview of the Federal Court and that it there is little it can do to determine who’s ultimately responsible for dealing with the problem.

Justice Emmett emphasized that even if iiNet wins this appeal there was nothing to prevent AFACT from taking the ISP to court in the future over what it consider anti-piracy inaction.

Zeropaid