iiNet No Longer Accused of Copyright Infringement

A case which in many aspects is similar to the Pirate Bay case is currently underway in Australia. Movies studios sued Australian internet provider iiNet but they’ve recently dropped the accusations of direct copyright infringement. But this doesn’t yet spell victory.

“Having wasted six months preparing a defense to the conversion charge, iiNet now has until Friday to enter its final defense. The remaining charges revolve around whether iiNet is liable for the actions of its users and their alleged copyright infringement,” writes Sydney Morning Herald.

This case has a great importance for Australian ISPS – if iiNet is found guilty for the actions of its customers, they too could share the same fate. Many file shares, on the other hand, have already taken their own measures to protect their identities by using anonymity services such as VPNs.

Since iiNet has vehemently opposed to the idea of implementing mandatory ISP filtering plans one can be sure that the government is also very interested in how this trial turns out. This is a great chance to finally force ISPs to block file-sharing traffic.