Chapter 3Copyright Infringement

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

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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

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Infringement Requirements

• Infringer-person who does not own copyright• Infringer publishes • Infringer distributes• Copyright ownership• Permission not granted

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Published or Distributed

• Posting to • Website• Blog• Usenet group• Email, attachment• Chat, IM

• Making files available not infringement unless…• Distribution occurs!

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Infringement Types

• Direct• Done with intent

• Contributory• Helps others infringe

• Vicarious• Controls infringer, financial gain

• Inducement• Distributes device to promote infringement

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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

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Website Direct Infringement• Without contrary contract, website designer owns

copyright• Updating website could be derivative work =

infringement

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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

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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

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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…

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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

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Contributory Infringement-Posting Files• Australia, posting mp3s, ISP contribute to

infringement• U.S. law shields ISP from liability by withholding

responsibility (CDA)

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Hyperlinking

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

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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

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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

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Framing Problems

• Viewing content of second site which is framed by information of first site• Possible confusion• Intentional misrepresentation• Example

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

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DMCA Title I

• Illegal to circumvent copy protection• What, no reverse engineering?

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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

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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!

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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

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Pre-DMCA

• Betamax Test• Is the technology capable of commercially

significant non-infringing uses?• Yes- ok to use• No-contributory infringement

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Post-DMCA

• deCSS• software negating CSS illegal• cannot copy own DVDs

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Peer 2 Peer P2P

• Link computers• Share files• Napster is modified, central index• Problem• Used for infringement• Not much non-infringing use

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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…

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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…

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RIAA Plan-Sue Customers

• Between 2003-07• Sues 30,000 people!• 12 year old, 66 year old grandma, dead person…

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Making Available

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

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Harm Vs. Damages

• Thomas case-$80,000 per song• Excessive awards raise issues…questions• Is this unconstitutional?

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

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RIAA Course Change

• December 2008, shift to ISPs• But is this the end?• Another Business Model?

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Bottom Line

• Music Industry Should Consider New Business Model

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INDUCE

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

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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…

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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

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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…