Downloading Game of Thrones Illegally - Copyright Infringement?

[Gareth]

My partner has gone crazy downloading everything she can including movies, songs and now Game of Thrones. I thought all this was within the law but now he has had an email from some organisation that says he has broken the law and will be charged and have to go to court. Do we need a lawyer?

 

[KStu]

Downloading movies, songs etc breaches the Copyright Act - so yes it is breaking the law. I do know a couple of people who have been contacted by their internet provider in an attempt to scare them into not pirating movies, but none were served with legal action. Have you researched the organisation that emailed you at all?

 

[winston wolf]

Hi
From "some organisation" doesn't give us much to work with.
More information would help.

 

[Rod]

You don't need a lawyer yet. If the notice is from AFACT they generally just send stop downloading notices and don't follow up with legal action.

There are some very technical rules around the circumstances of this kind of 'copy infringement' and many grey areas and this is one reason the movie studios have been reluctant to do much here in Australia. Plus the cost and effort of enforcement is huge for a $10 movie download.

Be careful in case this group does decide to take a stand.

Personally I think it is unlikely AFACT will do anything at the moment as they are currently pushing the Attorney General Brandis to make changes to the copyright laws and politically it doesn't make sense for them to start alienating the Australian public before they get the changes they want to our copyright laws.

 

[John R]

No reply from Gareth yet. He may have reached his download limit

 

[MReyesG]

Does this happen even if you download it from torrents?

 

[Rod]

Yes, unless you take steps to hide your IP address.