Orcon and TelstraClear receive more infringement notices

Orcon and TelstraClear have both received further infringement notices.

Last week, Orcon said it expected to received further infringement notices in batches, and it appears it was correct, with spokesman Quentin Reade confirming today that the ISP had received more notices thi week.

Mr Reade said last week Orcon had been "slammed with media queries from all directions" and could not sustain it long term.  He said the telco would like to offer a summary once a benchmark had been reached. 

TelstraClear spokesman Gary Bowering said the telco had received very few notices this week but understood that more may be coming. 

"As ISPs do not have any say over the number of alleged infringements that rights owners choose to send, or how regularly they choose to send them, we continue to recommend that definitive information on the number of notices dispatched should be sought from rights owners."

Telecom spokeswoman Anna Skerten said the telco was complying with its obligations under the Act by processing infringement notices, which was manual and somewhat labour intensive.  She said for further detail, copyright holder groups should be contacted directly.

Vodafone spokeswoman Michelle Baguley said the telco had not received any further infringement notices this week.

Last week, the first notices were confirmed by all major ISPs, with most from the rights holder group the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand, who had no comment to make at the time other than to confirm that the rights process was well underway.

The New Zealand Federation Against Copyright Theft executive director Tony Eaton said at the time the organisation was currently considering its options and remained of the view that for the Act to be workable such that rights holders could equitably protect their works, several provisions of the Act needed to be reviewed, including the high cost of issuing notices.

"We believe a workable solution can be found for all creative communities moving forward and have no further comment to make at this time."

It allows for a maximum penalty of $15,000 after a 'three strikes' process of notices. For a run down of the Act, see here.