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ARTICLE · 27 OCTOBER 2009

Illegal Downloads, The Dark Knight And Copyright Infringement

Gadens Lawyers
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Who would have thought that a bank robbery scene from The Dark Knight would be shown in the Federal Court to illustrate copyright piracy? The scene was shown to illustrate the copyright piracy that iiNet (Australia’s third largest internet service provider after Telstra and Optus) is alleged to have encouraged its customers to engage in by illegally sharing copies of movies and music files on its network.

AustraliaIntellectual Property
Alexia Marinos
Alexia Marinos

Who would have thought that a bank robbery scene from The Dark Knight would be shown in the Federal Court to illustrate copyright piracy? The scene was shown to illustrate the copyright piracy that iiNet (Australia's third largest internet service provider after Telstra and Optus) is alleged to have encouraged its customers to engage in by illegally sharing copies of movies and music files on its network.

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) brought a copyright infringement claim in the Federal Court against iiNet on behalf of 34 claimants including Warner Brothers, Village Roadshow, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Paramount Pictures, Disney Enterprises, Columbia Pictures and Seven Network. It was alleged that iiNet failed to "take reasonable and appropriate steps" to stop the infringing activity from taking place on its network.

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