Copyright Act 1994

(1) A person who infringes copyright may face both civil and criminal proceedings under the Copyright Act.  (i) The Act contains exemptions from infringement liability for transient & incidental copying that is an integral or essential part of a technological process, provided the original copy was not an infringing copy. (ii) The Act also contains exemptions from liability for Internet Services Providers (ISPs) and Internet Protocol Address Providers (IPAPs), provided they comply with specified obligations. 

(2) An ISP is defined as any person who does either or both of the following:  (a) offers the transmission, routing, or providing of connections for digital online communications, between or among points specified by a user, of material of the user's choosing; or (b) hosts material on websites or other electronic retrieval systems that can be accessed by a user (section 2).   Under Sections 92B to 92E, an ISP will not be liable for storing or caching infringing material unless the ISP:  (a) knows or has reason to believe that the material infringes copyright in the work; and (b) does not, as soon as possible after becoming aware of the infringing material, delete the material or prevent access to it (section 92C).   

(3) An IPAP is defined as a person that operates a business that, other than as an incidental feature of its main business activities: (a) offers the transmission, routing, and providing of connections for digital online communications, between or among points specified by a user, of material of the user's choosing; and (b) allocates IP addresses to its account holders; and (c) charges its account holders for its services; and (d) is not primarily operated to cater for transient users. 

(4) Sections 122A to 122U of the Act establish a process for copyright owners to follow when they consider an internet user has infringed their copyright via a file sharing network.  File-sharing networks are not illegal in themselves. However, much of the content on file-sharing networks is music, film, television, books or software that is protected by the Act.  A rights owner can make a claim against an internet account holder who the rights owner alleges has infringed copyright via file sharing.  Upon request by the rights owner, IPAPs must issue infringement notices to alleged infringers.  IPAPs also have administrative requirements under section 122T of the Act.  A failure to comply with these requirements could result in the ISP losing the protection from copyright liability under section 92B.