Chapter 3 Copyright Infringement

Copyright Infringement occurs- Infringer Publishes or distributes Copyrighted material Without copyright holder’s permission PgP BUSA3312

No Infringement… Material is not published or distributed Material is not copyrighted Copyright expired Material produced by government Permission Given Letter, license, contract CC license PgP BUSA3313

Infringement Requirements Infringer-person who does not own copyright Infringer publishes Infringer distributes Copyright ownership Permission not granted PgP BUSA3314

Published or Distributed Posting to Website Blog Usenet group , attachment Chat, IM Making files available not infringement unless… Distribution occurs! PgP BUSA3315

Infringement Types Direct Done with intent Contributory Helps others infringe Vicarious Controls infringer, financial gain Inducement Distributes device to promote infringement PgP BUSA3316

Direct Infringement Website is open to world Place copyrighted material on website. No permission = infringement Cannot copy newspaper story about yourself Cannot scan magazine photos and publish Beware publication in other media Brochure ≠web PgP BUSA3317

Website Direct Infringement Without contrary contract, website designer owns copyright Updating website could be derivative work = infringement PgP BUSA3318

Contributory Infringement- Content Allowing others to publish copyrighted material To your blog, wiki, chat room, guest book…. CDA-Communications Decency Act (discussed later) can protect website owners and other publishers from liability-but is not a license to infringe PgP BUSA3319

Avoiding Contributory Infringement If allow others to publish to your site, then Have moderator to clean up postings or Use filtering or blocking software on postings Or do not allow third-party postings on your site Defeats the purpose of a ‘discussion’ Intent is not required to find infringement, but can affect amount of damages PgP BUSA33110

Contributory Infringement- Hypertext Linking Good idea to obtain permission to link to another site Otherwise legal entanglement As yet, no U.S. court has ruled, but… PgP BUSA33111

Contributory Infringement- Search Engine Links Is Google Indexing, then linking to site content, photos infringement? Courts not clear, U.S., German cases Prevent indexing using robots.txt PgP BUSA33112

Contributory Infringement- Posting Files Australia, posting mp3s, ISP contribute to infringement U.S. law shields ISP from liability by withholding responsibility (CDA) PgP BUSA33113

Hyperlinking Get express or implied consent (reciprocal links) Don’t link to infringing copyrighted material Use linking disclaimers PgP BUSA33114

Contributory Infringement- Inline Linking Displaying copyrighted graphic from one site that originates elsewhere Known as ‘hotlinking’ or ‘bandwidth theft’ Avatars, comic strips (Dilbert) Legal status not yet resolved Not really copying, just pulling image…? But graphic is being displayed elsewhere… Example PgP BUSA33115

Contributory Inringement- Deep-Linking Link bypassing home page, to internal website page Problem-loss of bypassed site pages income Page displays Bypassing ads Problem-Create impression that sites are linked PgP BUSA33116

Framing Problems Viewing content of second site which is framed by information of first site Possible confusion Intentional misrepresentation Example PgP BUSA33117

Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title I-Criminal liability Title II-Online Service Provider Immunity PgP BUSA33118

DMCA Title I Illegal to circumvent copy protection What, no reverse engineering?no reverse engineering PgP BUSA33119

DMCA Title II Safe harbor requirements Infringer termination policy Designated copyright agent Notice to delete infringement OSP not aware of infringement OSP not gaining $ benefit OSP must respond quickly to infringement notice PgP BUSA33120

DMCA Title II Takedown Notices Notice to OSP to delete infringing material Problematic/Faustian OSP acts quickly-may take down non infringing material (parody) OSP acts slowly-may incur liability under Title II No independent investigation of infringement required! PgP BUSA33121

DMCA Title II-Wrongful Takedown OSP not liable, notice sender is. Takedown fever Viacom/Web Junk 2.0 UMG, court states ‘fair use’ must be considered before sending takedown notices PgP BUSA33122

Pre-DMCA Betamax Test Is the technology capable of commercially significant non-infringing uses? Yes- ok to use No-contributory infringement PgP BUSA33123

Post-DMCA deCSS software negating CSS illegal cannot copy own DVDs PgP BUSA33124

Peer 2 Peer P2P Link computers Share files Napster is modified, central index Problem Used for infringement Not much non-infringing use PgP BUSA33125

Betamax Rises Ninth Circuit Grokster court rebukes motion picture industry for stifling innovation Technology brings good industry changes in long run But not the last word… PgP BUSA33126

Vicarious Infringement Liability for other’s infringement Requires control over other, $ benefit Credit card companies evaded liability in transactions of infringing content Others not so lucky… PgP BUSA33127

RIAA Plan-Sue Customers Between Sues 30,000 people! 12 year old, 66 year old grandma, dead person… PgP BUSA33128

Making Available Is it enough to sue for this? Or is distribution proof required? Federal courts do not agree-hotly contested issue PgP BUSA33129

Harm Vs. Damages Thomas case-$80,000 per song Excessive awards raise issues…questions Is this unconstitutional? PgP BUSA33130

RIAA Pays Defendant Foster Foster awarded attorney fees RIAA failed to prove vicarious infringement Encourages others to ‘stand up’ ? PgP BUSA33131

RIAA Course Change December 2008, shift to ISPs But is this the end? Another Business Model? Another Business Model PgP BUSA33132

Bottom Line Music Industry Should Consider New Business Model PgP BUSA33133

INDUCE Inducing Copyright Infringement Act of 2004 Would eliminate Betamax test, and more… Destroy remote computers???? Not passed, but could come back later… PgP BUSA33134

Supreme Court Grokster Overturns 9th Circuit Avoids technology (Betamax) question..it stands Focuses on inducement Actively and knowingly encourage illegal use… But anytime -Congress could declare technology illegal… PgP BUSA33135

First Sale Doctrine Supreme Court, 1908 Buyer can sell without permission of copyright holder Can resell CD, but Probably cannot resell multiple copies of downloaded music file burned to CD PgP BUSA33136

File-Sharing’s Future? Technology keeps improving, changing, adapting- simplifying file-sharing Copyright holders want their profits Battle shows no signs of ending… iPhone 4 and beyond… PgP BUSA33137