New Zealand passes Copyright Amendment Bill

The New Zealand parliament passed The Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill on 14 April, putting a three-tiered system in place for deterring illegal file sharing online.

Enacted into law on 18 April, the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act 2011 amends the existing New Zealand Copyright Act 1994. It applies to sharing files via networks and includes uploading and downloading of material.

The amendment allows copyright owners to notify internet service providers (ISPs) when their service users are downloading or uploading copyright infringing material. ISPs must then send notices to those users, advising them that they may have infringed copyright. If a user has received three notices of infringement from their ISP and continues to infringe, the copyright owner can take their claim to the New Zealand Copyright Tribunal. The tribunal may make awards of up to NZ$15,000 against the user for damages sustained by the copyright owner.

The Bill includes the possibility for district courts to suspend internet services for infringing users for up to six months. However these provisions will only be brought into force where the notice process and Copyright Tribunal remedies have not been effective in discouraging infringement of users.

Most of the provisions are due to come into effect on 1 September 2011.

In commenting on the amendment, New Zealand Commerce Minister Simon Power said that ‘online copyright infringement has been damaging for the creative industry, which has experienced significant declines in revenue as file sharing has become more prevalent. This legislation will discourage illegal file sharing and provide more effective measures to help our creative industries enforce their copyright.’

View the press release from the New Zealand Government.

Item posted on 11 May 2011.