ONE of America's biggest anti-piracy companies was too scared to take on Telstra over copyright breaches and instead pursued the smaller iiNet, according to leaked documents published on WikiLeaks.

The Motion Picture Association of America decided against a legal battle with Telstra because they were "the big guns" who had "financial resources and demonstrated willingness to fight hard and dirty, in court and out".

The MPAA concealed its involvement in the lawsuit against iiNet. The case was taken instead by Australian counterparts the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, essentially acting as an agent for the Americans.



The WikiLeaks cable showed the MPAA was worried it could be portrayed as “giant American bullies versus little Aussie battlers” if anyone were to learn of its involvement.

The MPAA believed that targeting iiNet for prosecution would be the right move because it was “big enough to be important”.

Behind the curtains

In 2008 the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft launched a landmark trial against internet provider iiNet - the nation's third biggest ISP - for failing to take reasonable steps to prevent pirating on its network.



The court ruled against AFACT in February stating that the ISP could not reasonably be held responsible for the downloading habits of its users.

It appears now that anti-copyright organisation Motion Picture Association of America was behind the lawsuit all along.

In a briefing between the US Embassy and Mike Ellis President of the Singapore of the Asia-Pacific branch of the MPAA, Mr Ellis reportedly confirmed that AFACT was essentially operating as a sub-contractor to the organisation.

It also showed that MPAA had put significant pressure on television and film studios to encourage them to get involved in the legal proceedings.

“AFACT and MPAA worked hard to get Village Roadshow and the Seven Network to agree to be the public Australian faces on the case to make it clear there are Australian equities at stake”, the cable reads.

Mr Ellis also claimed iiNet users also had a particularly high copyright violation rate and that the organisation was “consistently unhelpful on copyright infringements”.

The President of MPAA’s Singapore branch was also surprisingly confident about the company’s chances of success claiming their case was very strong.

America’s involvement not-so-secret

The anti-piracy group may have wanted to go incognito however court documents reveal the MPAA’s involvement in the case was anything but secret.

The court decision stated that AFACT was for all intents and purposes a “local franchise” of the MPAA.

“The Motion Picture Association (‘MPA’) and the Motion Picture Association of America (‘MPAA’) have a membership of the major American film studios”, the court document reads.

“They are not associated with AFACT by any formal written agreement.

“However, AFACT does report to the regional branch office of the MPA which is based in Singapore.

“The Court considers that AFACT is, for relevant purposes, the local ‘franchise’ of the MPA, though with specific additional interaction with Australian entities that are not part of the MPA, such as Village Roadshow and related entities.

“Nevertheless, it has not been established that AFACT is an agent of the applicants; rather, its position vis-à-vis the applicants is a loose arrangement to provide certain services for the applicants.”

A spokesperson for Telstra told news.com.au the company takes illegal downloading very seriously.



“Telstra does not condone copyright infringement and has been, and currently is engaged in, constructive discussions as to how we might assist rights holders to protect their interests”, the spokesperson said.

“Finding a solution to online copyright infringement is a significant challenge, requiring a careful balance of the interests of all stakeholders including rights holders, intermediaries and users.

“In that context, Telstra has always acted within the law and in the interests of our shareholders and customers.”

News.com.au contacted iiNet and AFACT but both parties declined to comment as the court case is ongoing.



Mr Ellis declined to comment as he is on an overseas trip.