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ARTICLE · 14 JULY 2015

ISP forced to hand over details of online pirates

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The copyright owner should uncover details for those who downloaded pirate versions of the movie Dallas Buyers Club.

AustraliaIntellectual Property
Peter Treloar
Peter Treloar
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In a first for Australia, a copyright owner has been successful in forcing an internet service provider (ISP) to hand over the contact details of internet account holders of about 4,700 IP addresses that have been identified as having been used to download pirate versions of the movie Dallas Buyers Club.

In Dallas Buyers Club LLC v iiNet Limited [2015] FCA 317, the Federal Court entertained a preliminary discovery action by the film's owners who were after the customer address detail of those customers thought to be engaged in piracy though BitTorrent downloads of the film. The ISPs resisted the handover of private information. However, the Court considered the copyright owner had a significant need to uncover the customer details.

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