Stuart Corner
Thursday, 04 February 2010 13:20
IT Policy -
Government Tech Policy
Page 1 of 2
Internet industry bodies and financial analysts have welcomed the court's finding that iiNet has not authorised copyright breaches by its Internet users.
Telco and media analyst Daniel Blair of Southern Cross Equities said of the ruling: "This clears a major overhang on the stock and we see a clear path for the stock to re-rate towards our $2.50 target price.
He added: "We continue to view IIN as market leading ISP with attractive entry. iiNet's shares opened at $2.21 this morning and were trading slightly down $2.19 around mid-day.
The Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU) welcomed the decision with vice president Narelle Clarke saying "the Court has confirmed that ISPs are not required to be the gatekeepers of Internet use."
ISOC-AU said it "recognises that people should be rewarded for their creative endeavours" and suggested that, in the wake of the judgement "other models may need to be used or developed to reward content creation and distribution."
ISOC-AU also highlighted the court's finding that, because iiNet did have a repeat infringer policy, it would have been entitled to the protection offered by the ‘safe harbour’ provisions of the copyright legislation.
