‘Dallas Buyers Club’ Wins Landmark Piracy Case In Australia, Federal Court Asks ISPs To Reveal Identities Of Illegal Downloaders

Australian Federal Court has asked iiNet and other internet providers to reveal the identities of the users accused of illegally downloading Hollywood blockbuster “Dallas Buyers Club.” The decision comes as a part of a landmark ruling related to privacy and piracy, the first of a kind in the country.

The case is known as iiDallas as iiNet has been fighting against the ruling. The customers who have illegally downloaded the movie from the web may now expect a legal letter from the copyright owners of the movie. The owners may ask the customers to pay for downloading the film without permission.

The Federal Court’s decision may make life more difficult for the Australians who freely indulge in downloading movies using torrent clients. The copyright owners filed the case because they believed that their rights were being infringed in “a wholesale way.”

There are reportedly 4,726 internet subscribers who allegedly downloaded the movie which brought Matthew McConaughey the Oscar for Best Actor in 2014. The Federal Court has ordered ISPs including iiNet, Adam Internet, Amnet Broadband and Dodo to hand over the personal details of all the customers.

Sydney lawyer Michael Bradley, who represented “Dallas Buyers Club” in court, said that it had not been decided what the company would do after acquiring the details of the customers who allegedly downloaded the movie without permission.

Bradley added that there was no reason to assume that the Australian case would “substantially reflect” similar cases overseas. “Certainly Australia is one of the jurisdictions of the highest rate of unauthorised downloading, and this is a first step from a copyright owner to try to change that balance,” he said.

What To Do If You Get A Legal Letter From “Dallas Buyers Club”

According to legal experts, there are a number of reasons why you should not worry even if you get a legal notice from the copyright owners. The former chief regulatory officer of iiNet, Steve Dalby, said that it would be difficult for the owners to prove that the accused was guilty of illegally downloading the movie.

"They can't detect downloaders so if I downloaded it but never shared it I wouldn't be concerned about it," Dalby said. He added that the legal letter would only be an allegation, not proof.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au