The Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act 2011 amended the Copyright Act 1994 to provide owners of copyrighted works such as movies, TV shows and music a quicker way to penalise people infringing their copyright via online file sharing. The intention of the law changes is to crack down on peer-to-peer file sharing.

The law came into force on 1 September 2011, and sets out an enforcement regime that may impose penalties for unlawful file sharing. “File sharing” is defined as uploading or downloading material to/from the internet using an application or network that enables the simultaneous sharing of the material between multiple users.

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WHAT IT MEANS:  

If you use MIT’s computing facilities for unauthorised or illegal purposes such as infringement of copyright (whether by illegal file sharing, or otherwise) you could cause MIT to be liable to pay the rights holder up to $15,000 per infringement under an order from the Copyright Tribunal. MIT may take action against any person causing such a breach in order to recover any sum ordered by the Copyright Tribunal.

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MIT takes reasonable steps to provide internet access for staff and students to meet their needs without unreasonable restrictions. Internet sites visited and usage is recorded and this information may be used when seeking to recover costs from any infringement.

It is important that you read and understand the following:

An overview to understand the Copyright (Infringement File Sharing) Amendment Act 2011 can be found at the link below:

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2011/0011/latest/whole.html

Please direct any queries regarding the IT1 Policy to John Holley, Head of Technology Services

Please direct any legal queries to Kara Hiron, Manager – Legal and Contracts