Chasing Dallas stealers club
The lawyer representing Dallas Buyer's Club in its landmark piracy case says it is fact chasing 28,000 Australians identified to have pirated the movie and that it is "very likely" they will receive a notice in the mail.
Sydney-based Marque Lawyers managing director Michael Bradley told _The West Australian _Tuesday's landmark decision in the Federal Court - where iiNet and fellow provider Dodo were forced to hand over the personal details of 4736 customers - was a test case.
He said his clients had identified about a further 23,000 people alleged to have shared the Dallas Buyer's Club film - on ISPs such as Optus and Telstra - and that it would be chasing similar information, such as personal details, from them.
"We've been in contact with all of them (the ISPs) . . . iiNet was chosen as the test case," he said. "But it's certainly likely that we'll be chasing that (personal) information from the other ISPs.
"But nobody so far has voluntarily handed (it) over."
Tuesday's Federal Court decision sparked a wave of debate over the online piracy issue, with some commentators calling it a line in the sand for online piracy in Australia.
Others questioned the ability the copyright owners, such as Dallas Buyers Club, to gain compensation for individuals, one-by-one, in a copyright area which has virtually no precedence in Australia.
Mr Bradley said that it was currently unclear in what form the letters sent to the accused infringers would take.
He also admitted "intermediate steps" to identify the infringer - on internet accounts with multiple users, for example - needed to be taken before it acted. He estimated it would take about "Two or three months" for action to occur.
The comments come as the telecommunications body representing ISPs released its anti-piracy scheme, giving internet users accused of illegal downloading "three strikes" before their personal details are handed to copyright owners for potential legal action.
The code will be handed to the Australian Communications and Media Authority for the tick of approval.
