In a blog post, iiNet says it is is working with a law firm that has offered to provide pro-bono services for any of its customers and that more details will be provided when agreement is reached with the firm.

As iiNet says in its blog post, the ISP “along with a number of other ISPs, recently fronted up in the Federal Court after refusing to voluntarily hand over the personal details of customers that Dallas Buyers Club LLC (DBC) and Voltage Pictures LLC (Voltage) suspected of infringing copyright in their film.

iiNet says that it will be ordered to hand over the details of customers suspected of copyright infringement after 21 May.

While acknowledging that the judge presiding over the case, Justice Perram, had ordered safeguards to protect consumers from being threatened and intimidated by the rights holders, iiNet is still concerned and “couldn’t sit by and have our customers potentially bullied by the process of speculative invoicing.”

According to iiNet, the finding of the court do not mean the copyright holders allegations against any of its customers have been proven and that any letter received is still only an allegation until an infringement is proven or admitted.

iiNet sought to reassure concerned customers in its post that any damages that the rights holders may claim will be small sums of money.

“It could be less than a parking ticket for single instances of infringement. The Judge did say that for single instances of infringement that damages could quite possibly be limited to the fee that would have been paid had the film been lawfully downloaded. This could be around $10.”

iiNet hopes that the stringent court conditions for letters sent to consumers imposed by Justice Perram on the copyright holders will deter other copyright holders from attempting to implement US-style speculative invoicing practices in Australia.