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38 U.N.S.W.L.J. 206 (2015)
The Game of Clones and the Australia Tax: Divergent Views about Copyright Business Models and the Willingness of Australian Consumers to Infringe

handle is hein.journals/swales38 and id is 212 raw text is: UNSWLaw Journal THE GAME OF CLONES AND THE AUSTRALIA TAX: DIVERGENT VIEWS ABOUT COPYRIGHT BUSINESS MODELS AND THE WILLINGNESS OF AUSTRALIAN CONSUMERS TO INFRINGE PAULA DOOTSON* AND NICOLAS SUZOR** I INTRODUCTION It is often said that Australia is a world leader in rates of copyright infringement for entertainment goods. In 2012, the hit television ('TV') show, Game of Thrones, was by some figures the most downloaded television show over BitTorrent, and estimates suggest that Australians accounted for a plurality of approximately 10 per cent of the 3-4 million downloads each week.' The season finale of 2013 was downloaded over a million times within 24 hours of its release, and again Australians were apparently the largest block of illicit downloaders over BitTorrent, despite our relatively small population.2 This trend has led the former United States Ambassador to Australia to implore Australians to stop 'stealing' digital content, 3 and rightsholders to push for increasing sanctions on copyright infringers. The Australian Government is looking to respond by requiring Internet Service Providers ('ISPs') to issue warnings and potentially punish consumers who are alleged by industry groups to have * QUT Business School. ** Senior Lecturer, QUT School of Law. The authors are extremely grateful to Alex Button-Sloan and Eleanor Angel for their excellent research assistance in writing this piece. They would also like to thank Felicity Deane, Carmel O'Sullivan, Nigel Stobbs, Hope Johnson and Kylie Pappalardo for their useful feedback on earlier drafts. 1 Ernesto, 'Who's Pirating Game of Thrones, and Why?' on TorrentFreak (20 May 2012) <http://torrentfreak.com/whos-pirating-game-of-thrones-and-why-120520/>. 2 Ernesto, 'Games of Thrones Season Finale Sets New Piracy Record' on TorrentFreak (10 June 2013) <http://torrentfreak.com/games-of-thrones-season-finale-sets-new-piracy-record-130610/>. 3 Jeffrey Bleich, Stopping the Game of Clones (23 April 2013) Facebook <https://facebook.com/ notes/ambassador-bleich/stopping-the-game-of-clones/54285013242536 1>. 206 Volume 38(1)

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