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back to article Lawyers use anti-piracy law to get website blocked over corporate ID brouhaha

Australian law firm Moray & Agnew has written to internet service providers (ISPs) in an attempt to have them block a site hosted in India, citing the new provisions of Australia's Copyright Act that target pirate websites as justifying the ban. The letter, a copy of which has been seen by The Register, alleges that a site is …

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  1. Oengus
    Flame

    Taking the law into their own hands

    "The Register does not suggest that Moray & Agnew has done anything wrong or unethical with their approach to ISPs. "

    A law firm doing something unethical... who would have thought. What right does the law firm have to determine how the courts will decide? This is just a bully boy law firm failing in their duty to take the case to the Federal court because that will cost them (or more correctly their client) time and money.

    I applaud the ISPs for refusing to act on the letter from the law firm.

    Unfortunately, in this day and age, this is exactly the sort of reaction I would expect from law firms. Why are there not clauses in these laws to penalise abusers who use blatently lie (since when does using a logo mean "the primary purpose of the online location is to infringe, or to facilitate the infringement of, copyright "?).

    6 0 Reply
    1. MrDamage Silver badge
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      Re: Taking the law into their own hands

      El Reg may not be suggesting it, but I certainly will.

      Moray & Agnew are acting like a pack of arseholes in this manner. They have the responsibility to take their claims to the courts and have it actioned that way. By sending letters containing veiled threats to ISP's, they are acting extremely unethically, and potentially illegally.

      7 0 Reply
  2. John Tserkezis

    Oh I'm sorry, is the DMCA not good enough for them? The music and movie holders have been fucking thousands of people copying music to their MP3 players for years.

    But because going through the courts (like they're supposed to) is too "hard" for them, they take the piss weak way out and aim for the ISPs, who, are not technically responsible for this anyway.

    Nice work Moray & Agnew, congratulations on making yourselves look like a pack of, well, laywers.

    2 2 Reply
    1. Cpt Blue Bear
      Reply Icon

      The DCMA does not apply as this is in Australia.

      I'd have let it slide, this the third story I've read in a row where at least one commentard has been unable to work out what country the story relates to. In this case its only mentioned thirteen times...

      5 0 Reply
      1. Swarthy
        Reply Icon
        WTF?

        DMCA in Austrailia (This is sarcasm)

        Wait, you mean to say that US Law, in the form of the DMCA, does not apply world-wide?

        2 0 Reply
  3. scottyman

    The issue then becomes - if the ISP blocks those sites, presumably it's a federal crime (as they're illegally blocking internet traffic)

    Does anyone know?

    0 0 Reply
    1. Simon Sharwood, Reg APAC Editor (Written by Reg staff)
      Reply Icon

      Not a crime under any AU law I'm aware of. ISPs can do whatever they want AFAIK. But the prospect that small ISPs would just add URLs to their lists and send off a letter to avoid hassle is real, IMHO. And scary.

      1 0 Reply
      1. Adam 1
        Reply Icon

        8.8.8.8 /cough

        1 0 Reply
  4. eldakka

    The site is not hosted within Australia, therefore the site is not subject to Australian Law.

    If the site is not subject to Australian law, then by definition it cannot be in breach of any Australian law (copyright included).

    If it is not in breach of any Australian law, then they can't block it on the grounds of it breaching some Australian law.

    2 0 Reply
    1. Phil Kingston
      Reply Icon

      Their argument's not about the site.

      It's about ISPs allowing access to it.

      3 0 Reply

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