By 3news.co.nz staff
A file-sharing website has turned the tables on a major film studio, taking Warner Bros to court over alleged copyright fraud.
Hotfile, a Florida-based site that allows people to upload and download files via their web browser, says Warner Bros has used the site's own anti-piracy tools to illegally remove content it doesn't own.
Earlier this year, Warner Bros teamed up with other major Hollywood studios to sue Hotfile for allowing people to swap copyrighted material.
But Hotfile says Warner Bros has taken down open-source software and files owned by other companies.
According to a report on macnn.com, when Warner Bros took down copies of supernatural thriller The Box, it also removed several copies of alternative health book Cancer: Out of the Box and a BBC production called The Box that Saved Britain, and hundreds of others it had no right to remove.
New Zealand's new copyright legislation, dubbed the 'Skynet' law, doesn't cover downloads made via file-sharing sites like Hotfile, as they are not classified as peer-to-peer, or P2P, software. They are still covered under the old copyright laws, however.
3 News