Copyright lawyers have warned that a recent ruling in the Dallas Buyers Club judgement could have “chilling effects” on how similar cases are handled in the future.
Reports The ABC, the Federal court ruled yesterday that the ISPs should pay 75 per cent of the costs of the recent Dallas Buyers Club copyright case, reversing the initial decision that placed that burden upon Dallas Buyers Club LLC.
Back in April, the court ruled that a number of Australian ISPs, headed by iiNet, should hand over the contact details of 4,726 customers whose accounts were allegedly used to download and share the Dallas Buyers Club movie. While the initial ruling saddled DBC LLC with the costs, Justice Nye Perram has now ordered the ISPs to cover the bulk of the costs.
Some copyright lawyers say this decision could have “chilling” repercussions, and may deter ISPs to fight similar cases in the future.
“ISPs have got limited legal budgets, and what may well happen is that the ISP simply says, ‘look go ahead and get a court order, we don’t want to give up these details without a court order but we’re not going to fight the order’,” said Blackstone Chambers copyright and intellectual property barrister Nicholas Smith.
“[In future cases], an ISP is probably less willing to do what iiNet and the other ISPs did.”
The Federal Court has also ordered Dallas Buyers Club LLC to submit its proposed letter to the downloaders by next Wednesday, 13th May. It remains unknown whether DBC LLC will seek compensation from the downloaders, but the court has ruled that any kind of letter sent to downloaders must first be approved by the court.
Nicholas Smith also expressed concern that should internet providers choose not to fight as tough in future cases, this level of protection provided to customers by the court may not continue.
He also warned that the effects of the case, could extend to website-blocking laws, specifically the propsed Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 that is currently before Parliament.
“The proposed bill does provide that the ISPs are not liable for the costs of any proceedings in a Federal Court unless they take part in them,” Mr Smith said.
“What that means is that if a copyright owner wants to get a website blocked, there’s a strong incentive for the ISPs not to take part in the matter, because if they don’t, they won’t have to pay their own costs or the other side’s costs.”
Another hearing will be held on May 21st.
