Pirate Party Australia condemns news that Sydney law firm Marque Lawyers have demanded the details of Australian Internet users from Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Thankfully, ISPs have resisted the move and Marque Lawyers have indicated a desire to use the courts to pursue suspected downloaders, starting with preliminary discovery orders. This sort of approach is reminiscent of US-style copyright shakedowns.[1]
The iiNet ruling, while protecting ISPs from liability for the activities of customers, opened the way for this sort of predatory suit which had thus far not yet materialised in Australia, as groups like AFACT had been attempting to negotiate a deal with ISPs to deal with file sharing, which ultimately failed.
“Ambulance-chasing legal action does nothing to support content creators, who are the reason we have copyright. This kind of extortionate behaviour only benefits the commission based pay packets of opportunistic Lionel Hutz-like lawyers. It’s nothing more than an exercise in intimidation through litigation.” said Joe Miles, Pirate Party Candidate for the Senate in Victoria.
Pirate Party Australia opposes litigation of non-commercial file sharers. it is high time that sections of the content industry move with the times. Platforms like Steam, iTunes and the Amazon Kindle Store show how there is a thirst for legal, paid content when it is provided in a way that is convenient and timely.
“We once again see extortion as a business model raise its ugly head in the Australian media landscape. Attacking your fans is not a well devised method of conducting business in this day and age.” said David W. Campbell, Pirate Party President and candidate for the Senate in New South Wales.
“Distribution monopolies are worth nothing if you cannot distribute what the people want; fast, uncrippled and appropriately priced access to content. Predatory litigation continues to ride the fail train that bypasses the lessons which successful modern businesses have already learned. The free sharing of cultural works aka piracy, is primarily a customer service issue[2].” continued Mr Campbell.
Pirate Party Australia is concerned by the international trend of predatory litigation techniques used by the likes of ACS:Law in the UK and Prenda Law in the US, and will resist and highlight any attempts to use similar shakedown litigation techniques in Australia.
[1] http://delimiter.com.au/2013/05/23/mass-piracy-lawsuits-are-back-in-australia-law-firm-targets-end-users-details/
[2] http://au.ign.com/articles/2011/11/25/gabe-says-piracy-isnt-about-price