A group of major Hollywood studios lost an appeal in a piracy case in Australia on Thursday.
The Federal Court of Australia voted to uphold a lower court's decision earlier this month in favor of iiNet, an Internet service provider, which said that the company is not responsible for customers who illegally download copyrighted films.
Village Roadshow Ltd.’s Roadshow Films took the lead in the suit against iiNet, alleging iiNet turned a blind eye to customers using BitTorrent software to download copyrighted films.
The judge in the case ruled that iiNet's actions "did not amount to authorization of the primary acts of infringement on the part of iiNet users.”
The studios -- including Disney, Viacom's Paramount, Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox -- can appeal the ruling to the Australia’s High Court within 28 days.
