Advanced Television

NZ: 3 strike law passed

April 14, 2011

The Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill in New Zealand has been passed, despite strong opposition.  The law will come into effect on September 1st and repeals Section 92A of the Copyright Act.

The legislation seeks to tackle illegal file sharing, with illegal sharers receiving warnings for their first two infringements. A third infringement will see the owner of the copyrighted material able to seek a court order to suspend the offender’s Internet account.

Commerce Minister Simon Power said: “Online copyright infringement has been damaging for the creative industry, which has experienced significant declines in revenue as file sharing has become more prevalent. This legislation will discourage illegal file sharing and provide more effective measures to help our creative industries enforce their copyright.”

Categories: Articles, Broadband, Policy, Regulation