Comedian Rhys Darby appears to be putting some distance between himself and a controversial copyright law change that comes into effect in September.



The moves comes after his decision to front an anti-piracy DVD for the Federation Against Copyright Theft (NZFact) was met with disappointment from some fans.

United States movie studios scored a coup against internet rights advocates by recruiting the irreverent comedian to front the promotional video on internet piracy ahead of the law change, known as Section 92A, which will see computer users face fines of up to $15,000 if they are caught three times downloading pirated material. NZFact is owned by the US' Motion Picture Association.

Tony Eaton, chief executive of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (NZFact), said the 10-minute DVD would be distributed free to all New Zealand schools and online in August and was part of an education campaign by the federation in the run-up to the law change.

Mr Darby said on Twitter posts that he had not been paid to appear in the DVD. "I recorded something saying you should not pirate DVDs. That is it. I haven't done anything wrong."

Some fans have threatened to boycott his shows and even mobile network operator 2degrees, which uses Mr Darby for advertisements, after his involvement with NZFact was revealed. It is understood Mr Darby will issue a statement today, though it not clear whether he intends to set out his views on the new copyright regime.

Mr Eaton said the DVD would feature the Kiwi comedian hosting a discussion with six New Zealanders, including a make-up artist, a director and a theatre owner, about the issues they had faced as a result of piracy.

Asked whether Mr Darby's anti-authoritarian, subversive image might help counter concerns that the new copyright regime was the product of powerful, faceless corporations, Mr Eaton said, "you said it, I thought it".

The artwork for the video has not yet been finalised.

The copyright law change has been criticised by internet advocates who say it leaves the onus on people accused of piracy to prove their innocence and has spawned the creation of a new political party, New Zealand's Pirate Party, which hopes to contest the November election and repeal the legislation.

From September, rights holders such as movie studios or recording labels or their representatives, will be able to force internet providers to pass on infringement notices to customers who they believe they have caught accessing pirated material.

On the third warning, rights holders will be able to make internet providers pass the customer's details to the Copyright Tribunal, which will be able to impose fines.

NZFact said the Copyright Tribunal should impose "meaningful damage and deterrent penalties" against copyright infringers.