iiTrial heads to High Court hearings in December

ISP iiNet will head to the High Court in December for the latest round of hearings in its long-running copyright battle with the film industry.

The High Court of Australia has set aside December 1 and 2 to hear the appeal by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), representatives of the parties confirmed to iTnews.

AFACT is appealing two Federal Court judgments that found iiNet has not authorised alleged copyright infringing activities committed by its subscribers.

The ISP is expecting to lodge its written submissions to the High Court by the end of business Wednesday.

AFACT won the right to escalate the battle to the High Court in August on five appeal grounds.

Already, a number of third parties had lodged applications with the High Court as amicus curiae or 'friend of the court'.

They included the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).

All had so far lodged paperwork that sought to support the film industry's case.

The Australian Digital Alliance is also expected to lodge an amicus application with the High Court.

The alliance said in an email that it had been preparing a brief and had retained Victorian barrister Edward JC Heerey as counsel.

Amicus applications by various parties were largely ignored by the lower courts in hearings into the iiNet versus AFACT case.