New Zealander found guilty of copyright infringement

A New Zealand Vodafone customer has been ordered to pay industry association Recorded Music Zealand NZ $738.96 in costs, damages and “deterrent” payments.

The ruling came after the unnamed customer was found guilty of using the Vodafone account to illegally share music, making them the 18^th person to be punished under the country’s ‘Skynet’ regime.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, after the account tribunal contacted the account holder, the person’s brother penned a letter explaining the account holder had a brain injury and required a home visit to discuss how they could defend the claim.

Recorded Music NZ general counsel Kristin Bowman told SMH she wondered why the account holder didn’t ask one their six flatmates to read out the tribunal’s warning letter.

One of several regimes being looked into by the Australian Government in an effort to curb copyright infringement, the New Zealand anti-piracy operation aims to seek out and punish individual users.

By targeting individuals, regardless of who they may be, it is hoped that a decline in online piracy will become apparent.

The system’s ‘Three Strikes’ policy allows content providers to identify IP addresses and contact the ISP in order for them to send the account owner a warning letter.

However, as evidenced by Capitol Partners LTD’s ongoing court case against single mother of four Jammie Thomas-Russet in the US, the litigations can take years and prove rather costly.