CANBERRA: The Australian Federal Court has ordered , ISPs Dodo, Internode, Amnet Broadband, Adam Internet and Wideband Networks will also be required to hand over cu’tomers’ details .
In a landmark judgment delivered on Tuesday afternoon, Justice Nye Perram ruled in favour of Dallas Buyers Club LLC’s “preliminary discovery” application requesting that the ISPs disclose the identities of people it alleges shared the movie online.
In addition to iiNet, ISPs Dodo, Internode, Amnet Broadband, Adam Internet and Wideband Networks will also be required to hand over customer details.
It was unclear on Tuesday whether iiNet and the other ISPs would appeal the decision before the Full Court of the Federal Court. They will have 28 days to do so.
“It’s a good outcome, we got the result we were seeking,” Michael Bradley, a lawyer representing Dallas Buyers Club in the case, said outside the court.
The ruling means about 4700 Australian internet account holders whose service was used to share Dallas Buyers Club on the internet from as early as May 2013 are soon likely to receive legal letters from Dallas Buyers Club LLC’s Australian lawyers threatening legal action.
This occurred in the US, where legal action was threatened against account holders claiming they were liable for damages of up to $US150,000 ($196,656) in court unless settlement fees of up to $US7000 ($9171) were paid. This practice is commonly referred to as “speculative invoicing”.
But in a win for iiNet and the other Australian ISPs, Justice Perram ordered that any letters sent to alleged illicit downloaders must first be seen by him. He said this would “prevent speculative invoicing”, which under Australian may not be lawful.
“Whether speculative invoicing is a lawful practice in Australia is not necessarily an easy matter to assess,” Justice Perram said, before stating that it may constitute misleading and deceptive conduct as well as unconscionable conduct.
The judge also ordered that the privacy of individuals should be protected, meaning Dallas Buyers Club cannot disclose the identities of alleged pirates.
Justice Perram also said he would soon order that Dallas Buyers Club pay the ISPs’ costs for participating in the proceedings.
He said he would also soon order that Dallas Buyers Club pay the ISPs’ costs of searching for documents that identify alleged pirates.
iiNet chief David Buckingham said he was pleased with the result and some of the protections the judge put in place for consumers, despite the fact they can still be identified and sued as a result of the judgment.
“By going through the process we’ve been able to ensure that our customers will be treated fairly and won’t be subjected to the bullying that we have seen happen elsewhere,” Mr Buckingham said.
The case, heard by Justice Perram over three days in February, centred on whether Dallas Buyers Club LLC should be given access to details of internet account holders whose connections it alleges were used to share its movie using peer-to-peer file sharing software such as BitTorrent.
