NATCOM began voicing its concerns for New Zealand business in February this year, prior to planned changes in Copyright Law (Section 92A) forcing Internet Service Providers to terminate the Internet connections of alleged copyright infringers.

In response, NATCOM developed the SLAM™ firewall appliance to combat copyright infringement in the workplace, by including the hardware and software with all of its enterprise fibre and wireless Internet services.

In March, the government backed down on immediate implementation of the law, putting ‘s92a’ on hold, pending a review by the MED.   NATCOM responded in early April promoting the virtues of protecting business from Internet abuse, suspecting that the law would continue in some form irrespective, pointing out the fact that copyright infringement is still illegal in New Zealand.

The MED released a review yesterday calling for submissions on a suggested three-stage process. 

Stage 1: Rights holders suspecting infringement could complain to the Internet service provider who would notify the alleged infringer.  Upon further infringement, a cease-and-desist order would be sent.

Stage 2: If the alleged infringing continues, the rights-holder could apply to a Copyright Tribunal to obtain an order giving the Internet subscriber’s name and contact details.

Stage 3: The rights-holder would then serve an infringement notice.  The alleged infringer could choose mediation and share costs with the rights-holder.  Failing that, or with no response, the Copyright Tribunal would convene and could impose penalties (yet to be decided) ranging from fines, to terminating the infringer’s Internet service.

NATCOM has continued introducing its SLAM™ firewall appliance and will continue to do so, no matter what changes are made to copyright law.  SLAM™ continues to provide managed security, 24/7 quality and performance monitoring, and provides the greatest flexibility to enhance, add and change service features at a moment’s notice, including Copyright Protection.

If you’re concerned, talk to us.