A tiny Australian internet company in West Australia is at the centre of a copyright battle with powerful forces in Hollywood.
A Radio New Zealand business correspondent says internet service provider i-inet is rapidly discovering hell hath no fury like Hollywood scorned.
Three weeks ago, the Federal Court in Australia dismissed a lawsuit brought by agents of big Hollywood studios like Disney, Paramount and Universal against the company for allowing illegal downloads of movies over its network.
The studios said the Perth company should have prevented its customers from downloading the films.
But the judge ruled that i-inet could not be held responsible because the illegal downloaders were using file sharing software over which it had no control.
Now the studios are appealing the ruling, saying the case creates a dangerous precedent.
For its part, i-inet describes the appeal as a pointless waste of money for everyone involved.
