iiNet, AFACT appeal judgment due tomorrow

Full bench verdict ready.

The Full Bench of the Federal Court is likely to hand down its highly-anticipated judgment in the copyright stoush between the film industry and ISP iiNet on Thursday afternoon this week.

Court listings released today revealed the judgment should be handed down at 2.15pm in the Federal Court in Sydney.

Representing the Hollywood studios, the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) had appealed a Federal Court judgment by Justice Dennis Cowdroy that found iiNet did not authorise copyright infringement activities of users of its network.

Despite winning the original case, iiNet also lodged an appeal in an attempt to tighten up parts of Cowdroy's original ruling that did not land in the ISP's favour.

The Full Bench appeal was an important escalation in the high-profile case, but the verdict is unlikely to resolve the battle.

It is widely expected that the party on the wrong end of tomorrow's verdict would lodge a further appeal with the High Court in Canberra.

Experts believed that content rights holders, in particular, needed to prove they had exhausted all available legal options before they sought Government intervention on the issue of copyright and internet piracy.

For the film industry, tomorrow's judgement would also prove whether its gamble to change counsel for the appeal paid off.

AFACT had decided against using star barrister Tony Bannon on appeal. Bannon had become known in the original trial for his vigorous - but ultimately unsuccessful - examination of iiNet executives.

Stay tuned to iTnews for full details of the appeal verdict.