The infringement notices the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft issued iiNet were referred to police by the internet provider.

iiNet is currently embroiled in a complex case of alleged copyright breaches in Sydney, which could have implications for the global film and music industry and especially New Zealand as we have similar copyright legislation to Australia.

Lowndes Jordon partner Rick Shera said the federation stepped up its action against iiNet over a 17-week period when an estimated 1000 infringement notices were sent to the ISP.

The investigation into whether iiNet encouraged and facilitated its users in downloading illegal content from the internet such as music and films took around a year. The federation issued the notices on behalf of the 34 claimants, which include Warner Bros and Village Roadshow, as well as Australian film studios.

Mr Shera said iiNet treated the notices as allegations of copyright breaches and not as actual infringements. Therefore the ISP alerted police to the issue, which has now lead to the court case at a federal court.

The case is expected to last for several weeks and a judgment is not expected until January 2010.

iiNet has strongly denied the allegations. The case should determine to what extend ISPs could be held responsible for the actions of their users. Mr Shera said both camps were in the midst of “detailed parts” of their arguments.