New Zealand Delays Introduction Of Copyright Law

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

24 February 2009

New Zealand's government has decided to delay the introduction of a controversial new copyright law in the wake of an overwhelming series of world-wide protests against it.

The new section of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 was set to commence from February 28, and would have made it the responsibility of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to terminate the connection of individuals who are believed to be infringing media copyrights by illegally downloading material.

Protests from music fans across the globe began after it emerged that the law would give ISPs the right to disconnect the internet access of individuals believed to be repeatedly engaging in such activities without any prior warning being given.

The country's Creative Freedom Foundation argued that New Zealand's government is making it too easy for ISPs to terminate internet connections without court proceedings - a move which they think may disadvantage innocent internet users whose connection is hijacked by illegal downloaders.

However, the country's Prime Minister, John Key, has since announced that he will delay the introduction of the law until March 27 to enable the sector to review the law and see if they can decide upon "a more workable code of practice".

The Prime Minister announced that if a consensus is not reached within a month then the law will be suspended.

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