At Broadband Solutions, we proudly provide Internet connectivity to over 80% of Australian hotels and businesses, both large and small, all across Australia.

As part of our commitment to our customers, we maintain a vigilant lookout for technical and legal developments that have the potential to impact their businesses. Recently, the Federal Court handed down its decision in the Dallas Buyers Club v iiNet case. The finding has resulted in a number of concerns being raised with us regarding liability for copyright infringement within hotels and other venues that provide public Internet access.

We have undertaken extensive research into the matter, and based on our current understanding of the law, we can advise that account holders cannot be held responsible for the copyright infringements of people using their network unless the account holder encourages or authorises their guests to infringe. They cannot be held responsible simply because they have provided a service to a guest. The technical nature of the Internet connection is irrelevant. The key question is whether properties are encouraging or authorising users to breach copyright.

For hotels, this means that owners are not responsible for any copyright infringement by their guests unless they encourage or authorise them to participate in such an activity. It’s also important to understand that in the Dallas Buyers case, no allegations were made against the Internet access providers, and the Court has ordered that the copyright owner must pay the access providers’ costs of both the court proceedings and assembly of the information sought by the copyright owners.

Additionally, liability cannot be transferred to the account holder if they are not technically able to identify the end user. That means that if a hotel doesn’t have any way of knowing who infringed copyright, they can’t be held liable instead.

We do not condone copyright infringement in any way, shape or form. In fact, it is specifically prohibited in our Copyright Infringement Policy. The purpose of this article is not to highlight ways in which infringement can be circumvented, but rather to provide you with a clear understanding of your position. If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact the Broadband Solutions team today.

This post provides general information only and does not constitute legal advice.

 

Last modified: April 17, 2015