The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) had
its first victory on Tuesday 29 January 2013 under the new file
sharing provisions of the New Zealand Copyright Act, with an award
of $617.59 being made against an internet account holder.
The process New Zealand has adopted involves ISPs sending out
notices to its internet account holders on instructions (and
payment) from rights holders. After three notices within a defined
period the rights holder can instigate proceedings before the
Copyright Tribunal seeking an order for up to $15,000 and before
the District Court seeking an order that the account holder's
internet account be suspended for six months.
The notices on which RIANZ's action was based in this case
related to the uploading of three songs by the account holder. The
account holder, who was clearly not represented, admitted to having
downloaded BitTorrent and one of the two tracks at issue (although
downloading was not really relevant as the
