Melbourne Uni and music industry debate online copying - News - Communications

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Melbourne Uni and music industry debate online copying

By James Pearce, ZDNet Australia
February 21, 2003
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Melbourne-Uni-and-music-industry-debate-online-copying/0,130061791,120272289,00.htm

The University of Melbourne and music industry heavyweights are yet to reach agreement over access to information on the University's Internet facilities as court action by the companies over possible copyright infringement by staff or students proceeds.

In the Federal Court in Sydney, the music industry's lawyers tendered into evidence the University of Melbourne Internet guidelines, claiming that the document supported their case. The guidelines show that the use of the University of Melbourne's Internet facilities requires permission of the university, that certain activities (such as copyright infringement) are banned and there appears to be policing and auditing of the Web site, according to one lawyer.

The music industry also indicated they suspected the university may have already preserved a copy of its network files. "Yesterday the Melbourne Web site went down and came back up again," said the lawyer. "There are many reasons this could have happened. One explanation would be a copying process has taken place."

After "significant discussions" outside the courtroom the case was adjourned until 2.15pm Tuesday, with the lawyers saying significant progress had been made. They said they hope further progress would negate the need for a court decision.

Michael Speck, the managing director of Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) told ZDNet Australia they had noticed a spike of "infringing activity" earlier in the year as they monitored the Internet. "It may be completely innocent and benign behaviour, conversely it may be the thin edge of a massive monolith of infringement," said Speck.

MIPI is an Australian company employed by the music industry to trace and act on instances of copyright infringement.

According to Speck this process of requesting information has been going on for five years, and a standard letter was sent to 11 universities asking for co-operation, of which eight are in various stages of co-operation.

"This case is about the obligation of universities to assist copyright owners," said Speck, adding the University of Melbourne had made an offer to preserve the files requested by MIPI to investigate possible copyright infringement before the music industry had finished making its case.