Paliament's commerce select committee has recommended several changes to the Copyright (infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill – most notably a compromise on internet account termination.The bill will repeal controversial s92a of the Copyright Act
Paliament's commerce select committee has recommended several changes to the Copyright (infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill – most notably a compromise on internet account termination.
The bill will repeal controversial s92a of the Copyright Act and put in place a three-notice regime (to be sent from ISPs to their customers) to deter illegal file sharing.
An extended Copyright Tribunal will be given the jurisdiction to run a fast track process for illegal file sharing claims and will be able to award penalties of up to $15,000.
The bill as referred to select committee included the power for a District Court to suspend an internet account for up to six months, in appropriate circumstances – a prospect hotly contested by submitters.
In a report released today, the committee recommended that this power be included in the Act but not brought into force unless the notice process and the remedies in the Copyright Tribunal are ineffective.
It is expected that the issue will be reviewed in two years time, coinciding with the five year review of the digital copyright amendments that were passed in 2008.
Labour has heralded the recommendation as a crucial “last minute” compromise between Labour and National.
“This compromise means that termination of Internet access as an ultimate penalty for repeat copyright infringement remains in the Bill, but cannot be enacted unless the Minister makes the decision to do so,” Labour spokesman Claire Curran said in a release today.
“The minister would have to enact the termination clause by Order in Council, which puts the onus on the creative industries to prove there is a case to terminate access, for the Internet Service Providers to ensure that the system of providing deterrent notices to copyright infringers works and on the minister to ultimately make that call.”
“Without this compromise Labour could not have supported the bill.”
But the Green Party has said that the change doesn’t go far enough.
“The compromise before the committee isn’t a compromise on this issue at all. It is just a delay in implementation of this ill-considered remedy.”
“Citizens are not denied the right to use their telephones because they happened to be used in the commission of a crime, and this legislation should not set any precedent.
In their minority select committee report, the Greens called for the prospect of internet suspension to be entirely removed from the bill - though they continue to support the bill in principle.
Other changes recommended in the select committee majority report include:
- an exemption from the notice regime for cellular mobile networks until August 2013 (though this is likely to change in the near future as technology advances and mobile broadband prices go down);
- clarifying that representative organisations can use the new measures on behalf of copyright owners (by aggregating instances of infringement), which will make the system both easier to use for owners and easier for ISPs to administer;
- redrafting the definition of file sharing to narrow its scope;
- enabling the Copyright Tribunal (or the District Court, if internet suspension is brought into force) to decline to make an order where it would be manifestly unjust to the account holder.
