Peter Ollier, Hong Kong and Emma Barraclough and James Nurton, London
The World Wide Web may be global but a series of recent rulings from Australia to Italy have underscored the local nature of the laws that govern the internet service providers (ISPs) that allow us to go online.
Last month an Australian internet service provider claimed victory against a coalition of film companies in a landmark case dealing with liability for online copyright infringement.
In a 125-page decision handed down on February 4, the Australian Federal Court found that internet service provider iiNet has not authorised the file-sharing carried out by its customers using the BitTorrent.
"Simply put, this decision is akin to saying that merely selling a photocopier is not infringing copyright, but having that photocopier available to copy material for commercial gain is," said Andrew Wiseman, a partner of Allens Arthur Robinson.
In November 2008, a coalition...