The High Court has ruled in favour of internet service provider iiNet in a landmark copyright infringement case.
The case began in November 2008 when 34 film and television companies from both Australia and the United States filed an action in the Federal Court of Australia which alleged that the internet service provider had authorised the peer-to-peer file sharing activities of its users.
The court dismissed the appeal today, ruling that iiNet held no responsibility for the copyright infringement carried out by its customers and declaring that the internet service provider had no technical power to prevent customers from using the BitTorrent system.
The extent of iiNet's power, the court ruled, was limited to terminating contractual relationships with customers engaging in file sharing and piracy.