First ‘three strikes’ case New Zealand dismissed
Recently the first cases following the implementations of three strikes strategies have been brought before a national court. In this post, we compare the results of the newest New Zealand verdict with the outcome of the earlier French ruling.
Recently, the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) has withdrawn its first case to be brought before the Copyright Tribunal under New Zealand’s three strikes law. The defendant was a student living in students housing, and the named account-holder for the dorm’s Internet connection. The defendant argued that the case should be dismissed on account of several grounds. She argued that the notices send by RIANZ were not received or contained technical faults, and that the claimed damages were disproportionate and had no basis in the New Zealand Copyright Act or Tribunal Regulations. In addition, the defendant argued she didn’t download any files and consequently did not infringe any copyright, although her housemates might have committed the infringements. The Tribunal informed the defendant that RIANZ has withdrawn their claim and the case was closed. RIANZ has not given a reason why they dismissed the case.
This case is especially interesting in comparison with an earlier ruling in France. Alain Prevost became the first French citizen to be convicted under the French HADOPI law, which introduced the ‘three strikes’ system into France. Although Prevost, the account holder of a Internet connection, did not download any copyright infringing materials himself, he was convicted for failing to secure his Wi-Fi network. The French court considered that since Prevost ignored three warnings send by the Hadopi Agency he could be held responsible for any copyright infringements on his network. To read more about the ‘three strikes’ system, check the links below:
Source: Tech Liberty, The Register
Written by: Nathalie Falot
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