Hollywood Studios lose Australian movie piracy suit

Hollywood’s biggest movie studios, including Walt Disney Coand Paramount Pictures, lost a suit seeking to stop customers of Australia’s Iinet Ltd. from illegally downloading movies in a ruling that may set a precedent for the industry. Iinet, Australia’s third-biggest Internet service provider, didn’t authorize copyright infringements and shouldn’t be held liable for the actions of its customers, Justice Dennis Cowdroy told the Federal Court in Sydney today, as he dismissed the suit. The suit, led by Village Roadshow Ltd.’s Roadshow Films, sought to stop Iinet customers from using BitTorrent software to download films such as “Happy Feet” and “I Am Legend.” Disney, News Corp’s 20th Century Fox, Sony Corp and Viacom Inc’s Paramount joined the case. “It is no doubt a win for ISPs and a huge disappointment for owners of copyright content,” said Andrew Wiseman, a partner in intellectual property at law firm Allens Arthur Robinson. “The content providers are not in the business of suing their customers, but if they can’t get the conduit they might go for the end user.” The suit has parallels to earlier litigation involving photocopiers and video cassette recorders, where manufacturers weren’t held liable for the actions of users, said Wiseman, whose firm wasn’t a party to the lawsuit. While evidence showed copyright infringements occurred on a “large scale,” Perth-based Iinet wasn’t responsible, Justice Cowdroy said.