iiNet BitTorrent Piracy Case Goes Back to Court

The landmark court battle between the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft and the Aussie ISP iiNet will continue at The High Court.

After previous unsuccessful attempts at making iiNet responsible for the copyright infringing activities of their users, AFACT is still refusing to give in.

As reported in March, the Hollywood-backed group is taking its case to the High Court, claiming that two of the three judges in the appeal did not apply legal tests correctly.

The Australian reports the appeal may start as soon as September:

“The High Court has confirmed the date as the earliest of two it has set aside to hear the studios argue for special leave to challenge a Federal Appeal Court’s decision in February, which saw Perth-headquartered ISP iiNet narrowly avoid a ruling that it authorised its customers to infringe copyright online.”

“If the hearing doesn’t go ahead on August 12 the court has set aside September 2 as an alternative date.”

Source: iiNet BitTorrent Piracy Case Goes Back to Court

Generated by BlogIt

BlogIt - Auto Blogging Software for YOU!

Domains Seizures Violate First Amendment, Court Hears

At the end of January 2011, the U.S. authorities kicked off yet another round of domain seizures, this time against site connected with sports streaming. This third round of action in ‘Operation in Our Sites’ took control of the domains of Rojadirecta, one of Spain’s most popular sites.

Last week the company behind the site, Puerto 80, filed a petition in the Southern District of New York for the return of its domains. This call is now supported by The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), The Center for Democracy and Technology and Public Knowledge who submitted an amicus brief on Monday.

“This misguided intellectual property enforcement effort is causing serious collateral damage to free speech rights,” said EFF Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry. “These domain seizures should cease unless and until the government can fix the First Amendment flaws inherent in the program.”

“Neither the government nor rightsholders should fear a copyright enforcement process that complies with the rule of law,” said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman.

“Valid claims of copyright infringement can be pursued in a manner that allows the accused parties to defend themselves. The unilateral seizure of domain names without a court ruling — which obstructs access to all of a website’s content — is improper and should be strongly opposed by free speech advocates everywhere,” Zimmerman added.

The Brief

Source: Domains Seizures Violate First Amendment, Court Hears

Generated by BlogIt

BlogIt - Auto Blogging Software for YOU!