Hollywood has not given up on nobbling Australian Internet Providers who openly allow consumers to access piracy web sites.
Local Hollywood Movie Distributor and Cinema Chain Owners Village roadshow is set to take advantage of a change made to the Copyright Amendment (online infringement) Act by taking action in the Federal Court against Internet Service Providers who have failed to block piracy website who are openly streaming content stolen from Hollywood Studio’s.
The move is akin to trying to close down pawn shops openly selling stolen goods said one observer.
The action is the first ever taken under the new act that was passed by the Federal parliament late last year when now Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was Communications Minister.
The site Village Roadshow and Hollywood studios are seeking to block is SolarMovie.
While Australian offenders won’t be prosecuted if Roadshow are successful, it will result in Australians being unable to access sites hosting stolen movies.
SolarMovie facilitates the free streaming of movies and television shows such as The Walking Dead.
The site has been blocked by court order in the United Kingdom and on Tuesday was the first site to be blocked through court action by Singapore ISPs since the its government’s own copyright legislation changes in December 2014.
Should the application be successful, Australian internet service providers (ISPs) such as Telstra, Optus, TPG and Dodo, will be required to block access to the infringing site.
Village Roadshow co-chief executive Graham Burke told Fairfax Media that site blocking needs to be accompanied by two initiatives.
“The legislation has to be accompanied by sincere passionate communication to win people over and we have to continue to provide product in a timely and affordable way,” Mr Burke said.
Mr Burke, a long-time anti-piracy campaigner, said that the legislation was an effective way for copyright holders to protect their content.
“The pirates, they steal other people’s creativity and they have advertising and its millions of dollars and they provide nothing. Not one job or any creative input into the community,” he said.
