The Australian Screen Association (ASA) (formerly known as Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft) is an
anti-piracy lobby group that was established in 2004. Its aim is to protect the film and television industry and retailers from what it claims are adverse impacts of
copyright infringement in Australia. The Australian Screen Association is affiliated with the United Kingdom organisation,
Federation Against Copyright Theft
The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) is an organisation established in 1983 to protect and represent the interests of its members' intellectual property (IP). FACT also investigates fraud and cybercrime, and provides global due diligenc ...
and the United States organisation
MPAA.
ASA actively works to reduce
camcorder recording of films screened in cinemas. It is also dedicated to educating people about its own view of copyright infringement.
In mid-2011, the
Pirate Party Australia accused AFACT of intimidating ISPs after they threatened unspecified actions if they didn't engage with the organisation in talks on
file-sharing.
A classified
WikiLeaks cable revealed that AFACT was acting as the
MPAA's Australian subcontractor and that the MPAA wanted to avoid the view that the court case was about Hollywood trying to bully an Australian ISP.
Members
The organisation comprises
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment,
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
,
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
,
Roadshow Entertainment,
Sony Pictures
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...
,
Universal Pictures,
Warner Brothers and the
MPAA.
Court case
The organisation brought
a lawsuit to the
Federal Court of Australia
The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...
against Australian internet service provider,
iiNet, on 20 November 2008, alleging that iiNet had authorised copyright infringement on its network. AFACT had used Dtecnet, a company that tracks online copyright infringement to discover users sharing copyrighted content through
BitTorrent.
The Federal Court decision cleared iiNet on 4 February 2010. Justice Cowdroy found that "mere provision of access to internet is not the means to infringement".
AFACT lost
its appeal to the Federal Court on 24 February 2011.
It was ordered to pay iiNet's legal bills.
AFACT lost a further appeal to the
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution.
The High Court was established fol ...
on 20 April 2012.
See also
*
Internet in Australia
Internet in Australia first became available on a permanent basis to universities in Australia in May 1989, via AARNet. Pegasus Networks was Australia's first public Internet provider in June 1989. The first commercial dial-up Internet Service ...
*
Legal aspects of file sharing
*
Trade group efforts against file sharing
Arts and media industry trade groups, such as the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), strongly oppose and attempt to prevent copyright infringement through file sharing. Th ...
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.screenassociation.com.au/
Internet in Australia
Television in Australia
Organizations established in 2004
2004 establishments in Australia
Copyright enforcement companies
Information technology organizations based in Oceania