Katene Rahui: Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Katene Rahui: Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 There is something about the “three strikes” approach that this Government cannot seem to get enough of. In this bill the “three strikes” rule is applied to illegal file-sharing. In the Maori Party all of us have children or mokopuna in our lives who would think nothing of sharing music video and game files over computer networks such as the Internet. In my day we might have borrowed cassettes or LPs—for those members who are too young to know they are long-playing records. 
Michael Woodhouse 
: It’s a round vinyl thing Gareth. 
RAHUI KATENE 
: Yes. We could borrow those from our mates but today’s kids are accessing the latest hits online. 
The amendment we are voting on today puts in place a fair and balanced process to deal with online copyright infringements which are occurring via the process of file sharing. The process described is fair precisely because of this “three strikes” rule. The three-notice process is to give sufficient warning to file sharers that unauthorised sharing of copyright works is illegal. But the bill does not restrict itself just to warnings; it also puts in place—as we have been seeing more and more of with the standard Government approach—an almost predictable series of sanctions and punishments. 
The Copyright Tribunal will have an extended jurisdiction to enable it to hear complaints and award penalties of up to $15000. The amount will be based on the amount of damage sustained by the copyright owner. The bill also enables copyright owners to seek the suspension of Internet accounts through the District Court for up to 6 months. Lest I give the impression of unreasonableness I hasten to suggest that there is some leniency around time frames. In essence account holders will have an opportunity to address illegal file-sharing activity occurring on their Internet connection before enforcement action is taken. The timing is also extended to challenge notices and may request hearings at the Copyright Tribunal to contest infringement claims. 
We believe that this bill will be welcomed by the music industry as a weapon in the battle against online piracy. There are huge issues associated with the lack of intellectual property rights not to mention the significant declines in revenue that the copyright owner would otherwise be entitled to. The extent of downloading by individuals is so severe that copyright owners claim that it is having a substantial economic impact on their businesses. 
The interesting thing for the Maori Party will be to see how the range of measures introduced in this bill will be received. It is of course well known that the previous consultation on section 92A of the Act was widely condemned. One of those criticisms was that the legislation had no process allowing challenged Internet users to rebut a copyright owner’s allegations. Under the new law file downloaders who feel they have been wrongly penalised will be able to take their case to the Copyright Tribunal for free. 
At the end of the day the real key to the success of this bill will be in the way in which it is received by the people. We are told the bill is the result of extensive consultation with stakeholders. Time will tell whether that consultation has produced the positive results sought. To this end we will support this bill at the first reading to enable the korero to be heard.