Indirect Copyright Liability and Technological Innovation

Indirect Copyright Liability and Technological Innovation PDF Author: Peter S. Menell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Over the past decade, numerous scholars and commentators have asserted that the indirect copyright liability standards applied in the Napster, Aimster, and Grokster decisions, among others, significantly chill technological innovation. This article examines this critical conjecture and offers both a broader framework for assessing the relationship between indirect copyright liability and technological innovation and some suggestive empirical results. The conceptual analysis demonstrates that the question of whether indirect copyright liability chills technological innovation inherently requires consideration of a broader range of social balances, market mechanisms, and roles for mediating institutions. Several countervailing forces, such as the relatively modest capital requirements associated with the technology at issue, the nature of the many established research environments, the philosophical and cultural orientation of many digital technology researchers, various liability-insulating institutions, the ability of investors and technology companies to manage risk, and the importance of technological advance in fields unaffected by copyright liability, suggest that the effects of indirect copyright liability on innovation in replication and distribution technologies will be less dire and more complex than the conjecture suggests. Moreover, the Chilled Innovation conjecture downplays the beneficial effects of indirect copyright liability on the development of balanced technologies (those that tend to balance incentives to create copyrighted works with advances in information dissemination) while ignoring the adverse effects of broad immunity, which fosters deployment of parasitic technologies that tend to drive out balanced technologies. To the extent that the Chilled Innovation conjecture has force, it is not at the basic research and development stages of the innovation pipeline, but rather at the commercialization stage - which is where in the innovation process such effects are most appropriately focused. This limits the effects of choking innovation in its infancy. The article also offers a partial test of the chilled innovation conjecture by examining academic research and patent data. The findings indicate that the Napster-Aimster-Grokster trilogy does not appear to have derailed technological innovation in the peer-to-peer field.

Indirect Copyright Liability and Technological Innovation

Indirect Copyright Liability and Technological Innovation PDF Author: Peter S. Menell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Over the past decade, numerous scholars and commentators have asserted that the indirect copyright liability standards applied in the Napster, Aimster, and Grokster decisions, among others, significantly chill technological innovation. This article examines this critical conjecture and offers both a broader framework for assessing the relationship between indirect copyright liability and technological innovation and some suggestive empirical results. The conceptual analysis demonstrates that the question of whether indirect copyright liability chills technological innovation inherently requires consideration of a broader range of social balances, market mechanisms, and roles for mediating institutions. Several countervailing forces, such as the relatively modest capital requirements associated with the technology at issue, the nature of the many established research environments, the philosophical and cultural orientation of many digital technology researchers, various liability-insulating institutions, the ability of investors and technology companies to manage risk, and the importance of technological advance in fields unaffected by copyright liability, suggest that the effects of indirect copyright liability on innovation in replication and distribution technologies will be less dire and more complex than the conjecture suggests. Moreover, the Chilled Innovation conjecture downplays the beneficial effects of indirect copyright liability on the development of balanced technologies (those that tend to balance incentives to create copyrighted works with advances in information dissemination) while ignoring the adverse effects of broad immunity, which fosters deployment of parasitic technologies that tend to drive out balanced technologies. To the extent that the Chilled Innovation conjecture has force, it is not at the basic research and development stages of the innovation pipeline, but rather at the commercialization stage - which is where in the innovation process such effects are most appropriately focused. This limits the effects of choking innovation in its infancy. The article also offers a partial test of the chilled innovation conjecture by examining academic research and patent data. The findings indicate that the Napster-Aimster-Grokster trilogy does not appear to have derailed technological innovation in the peer-to-peer field.

Secondary Copyright Liability in an Age of Technological Innovation

Secondary Copyright Liability in an Age of Technological Innovation PDF Author: Changhwa Kim
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Copyright
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description


European Intermediary Liability in Copyright: A Tort-Based Analysis

European Intermediary Liability in Copyright: A Tort-Based Analysis PDF Author: Christina Angelopoulos
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
ISBN: 9041168419
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 594

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Book Description
In step with its rapid progress to the centre of modern social, political, and economic life, the internet has proven a convenient vehicle for the commission of unprecedented levels of copyright infringement. Given the virtually insurmountable obstacles to successful pursuit of actual perpetrators, it has become common for intermediaries –providers of internet-related infrastructure and services – to face liability as accessories. Despite advances in policy at the European level, the law in this area remains far from consistently applicable. This is the first book to locate and clarify the substantive rules of European intermediary accessory liability in copyright and to formulate harmonised European norms to govern this complicated topic. With a detailed comparative analysis of relevant regimes in three major Member State jurisdictions – England, France, and Germany – the author elucidates the relationship between these rules and the demands of EU law on fundamental rights and the principles of European tort law. She clearly presents the interrelations between such areas as the following: - accessory liability in tort; - joint tortfeasance; - European fault-based liability: fault, causation, defences; - negligence; - negligence balancing: rights-based or utility-based?; - Germany’s “disturbance liability” (Störerhaftung); - fair balance in human rights; - end-users’ fundamental rights; - The European Commission’s 2015 Communication on a Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe; - The E-Commerce Directive and other relevant provisions; - Safe harbours: mere conduit, caching, hosting; - Intermediary actions: monitoring, filtering, blocking, removal of infringing content; and - application of remedies: damages and injunctions. The strong points of each national system are highlighted, as are the commonalities between them, and the author uses these to build a proposed harmonised European framework for intermediary liability for copyright infringement. She concludes with suggestions for the future possible integration of the proposed framework into EU law. The issue of the liability of internet intermediaries for third party copyright infringement has entered into the political agenda across the globe, giving rise to one of the most complex, contentious, and fascinating debates in modern copyright law. This book offers an opportunity for a re-conceptualisation and rationalisation of the applicable law, in a way which additionally better accounts for the cross-border nature of the internet. It will be of inestimable value to many interested parties – lawyers, internet intermediaries, NGOs, policymakers, universities, libraries, researchers, lobbyists – in matters regarding the information society.

Copyright in the Digital Era

Copyright in the Digital Era PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309278953
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 103

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Book Description
Over the course of several decades, copyright protection has been expanded and extended through legislative changes occasioned by national and international developments. The content and technology industries affected by copyright and its exceptions, and in some cases balancing the two, have become increasingly important as sources of economic growth, relatively high-paying jobs, and exports. Since the expansion of digital technology in the mid-1990s, they have undergone a technological revolution that has disrupted long-established modes of creating, distributing, and using works ranging from literature and news to film and music to scientific publications and computer software. In the United States and internationally, these disruptive changes have given rise to a strident debate over copyright's proper scope and terms and means of its enforcement-a debate between those who believe the digital revolution is progressively undermining the copyright protection essential to encourage the funding, creation, and distribution of new works and those who believe that enhancements to copyright are inhibiting technological innovation and free expression. Copyright in the Digital Era: Building Evidence for Policy examines a range of questions regarding copyright policy by using a variety of methods, such as case studies, international and sectoral comparisons, and experiments and surveys. This report is especially critical in light of digital age developments that may, for example, change the incentive calculus for various actors in the copyright system, impact the costs of voluntary copyright transactions, pose new enforcement challenges, and change the optimal balance between copyright protection and exceptions.

Telecommunications Essentials, Second Edition

Telecommunications Essentials, Second Edition PDF Author: Lillian Goleniewski
Publisher: Pearson Education
ISBN: 0132702312
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 1228

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Book Description
Telecommunications Essentials, Second Edition, provides a comprehensive overview of the rapidly evolving world of telecommunications. Providing an in-depth, one-stop reference for anyone wanting to get up to speed on the $1.2 trillion telecommunications industry, this book not only covers the basic building blocks but also introduces the most current information on new technologies. This edition features new sections on IP telephony, VPNs, NGN architectures, broadband access alternatives, and broadband wireless applications, and it describes the technological and political forces at play in the world of telecommunications around the globe. Topics include Communications fundamentals, from traditional transmission media, to establishing communicationschannels, to the PSTN Data networking and the Internet, including the basics of data communications, local area networking, wide area networking, and the Internet and IP infrastructures Next-generation networks, including the applications, characteristics, and requirements of the new generation of networks that are being built to quickly and reliably carry the ever-increasing network traffic, focusing on IP services, network infrastructure, optical networking, and broadband access alternatives Wireless networking, including the basics of wireless networking and the technologies involved in WWANs, WMANs, WLANs, and WPANs

MGM V. Grokster - Amicus Brief of Professors Peter S. Menell, David Nimmer, Robert P. Merges, and Justin Hughes

MGM V. Grokster - Amicus Brief of Professors Peter S. Menell, David Nimmer, Robert P. Merges, and Justin Hughes PDF Author: Peter S. Menell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This case turns on whether the Supreme Court's 1984 decision in Sony conclusively resolves at the summary judgment stage the present dispute - involving strikingly different technology that was unimaginable at the time that the Sony case was decided. Although some of the language used in the Sony decision - stating that providers of technology that is capable of substantial noninfringing uses cannot be subject to contributory infringement liability - appears to predetermine the outcome of this matter, such a far-reaching, prospective rule goes well beyond the language or intent of the Copyright Act and misconstrues the proper judicial function in copyright adjudication. Over the course of nearly two centuries, courts have evolved, with tacit legislative consent, a rich infringement jurisprudence that balances a range of considerations on a case-by-case basis. This jurisprudence has long recognized indirect as well as direct infringement. In its comprehensive reform and codification of copyright law in the 1976 Copyright Act, Congress purposefully reaffirmed the continued applicability and evolution of this jurisprudence. At the same time, Congress established various express immunities, compulsory licenses, and other categorical limitations on liability. It would be incongruous, therefore, for courts to read additional categorical immunities into the Copyright Act's liability regime. Congress has since added numerous other limitations to copyright liability, none of which bar a finding of infringement in the present case. Several amendments prohibit trafficking of particular classes of technology capable of substantial non-infringing uses.The Sony Court derived its “staple article of commerce” standard by analogizing to the Patent Act. Transplanting such a rule from the Patent Act, however, misapprehends critical differences between the two legal regimes. Whereas patent law seeks to promote technological innovation and evolved a staple article of commerce doctrine primarily out of concern for unduly expanding patent scope, copyright law seeks to promote cultural and social progress, manifesting a more cautious stance toward technological dissemination, particularly where a technology threatens widespread piracy of expressive works. Furthermore, amendments to the Copyright Act since the Sony decision demonstrate that Congress does not believe that dual-use technology - i.e., technology that is capable of both infringing and substantial non-infringing uses - should be treated as inviolate under copyright law. Rather, Congress has shown that it sees a need to balance the efficacy of the copyright system for promoting creative expression against social interests in technological innovation and consumer autonomy.Consequently, this Court should clarify that indirect copyright infringement liability requires a balancing of factors based on the protection of copyright owners' rights and other recognized interests and concerns undergirding copyright law. Adverse effects of potential liability on incentives to innovate can and should be considered in such a balance, but no judicially established safe harbors should be recognized or imposed. Any such prospective, categorical safe harbors are properly within the exclusive power of Congress. Until such time as Congress establishes a staple article of commerce immunity to copyright liability, courts should continue to evolve balanced infringement standards that respond to new technologies guided by the text, structure, and purposes of copyright law.For the present case this means that the Ninth Circuit's decision to affirm summary judgment dismissing the plaintiffs' cause of action should be overturned and the case remanded for a full trial applying an appropriate balancing test. This Court should clarify that copyright liability extends to acts inducing copyright infringement and that contributory and vicarious liability should be judged on the basis of traditional criteria, including considerations of causation, knowledge, and intent. Given the policies animating copyright law, the standard for indirect liability should balance the harm to copyright owners against adverse effects on consumers from the loss of non-infringing uses from dual-use technologies. Such a balance should consider the full range of factors, including the relative magnitudes (present and foreseeable) of infringing and non-infringing use, the degree of control exercised by manufacturers and distributors of means for reproducing and distributing works of authorship, the intent of such enterprises, the extent to which noninfringing uses can be continued without the technologies at issue, and the extent to which copyright owners can limit unauthorized uses of their works (without undue expense or loss of market). Such an approach would continue the judiciary's vital role as a flexible and responsive institution for addressing evolving challenges to the copyright system. Until such time as Congress expressly enacts a safe harbor in the Copyright Act analogous to patent law's staple article of commerce doctrine, the distributor of technology that is merely capable of substantial non-infringing uses (but is in fact used predominantly to facilitate massive infringement) should not be categorically immune from copyright liability.

Indirect Free Riding on the Wheels of Commerce

Indirect Free Riding on the Wheels of Commerce PDF Author: Barak Orbach
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Recent years have witnessed explosion in copyright literature on potential indirect liability of providers of dual-use technologies - technologies that are capable of infringing and noninfringing uses. The existing literature, however, fails to identify several important characteristics of copyright disputes over dual-use technologies. This Article finds that attempts to impose indirect liability on providers of dual-use technologies tend to appear in multisided markets, which are business environments in which market intermediaries connect members of different, distinct groups. The Article shows that indirect network externalities that multisided markets generate are the value that stirs up disputes over dual-use technologies. The Article explains the nature of indirect network externalities and their significance to copyright law. It characterizes the properties of markets in which disputes over dual-use technologies tend to arise, offers criteria to differentiate among dual-use technologies, and examines the desirability of present copyright liability rules. The analytical framework advanced in this Article offers courts, policymakers, and scholars practical guidelines for distinguishing between socially desirable and undesirable dual-use technologies. The framework also exposes some limitations of present copyright law in addressing the problem of dual-use technologies.

Toward a More Balanced Approach

Toward a More Balanced Approach PDF Author: Jerry Jie Hua
Publisher: Open Dissertation Press
ISBN: 9781361378588
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
This dissertation, "Toward a More Balanced Approach: Rethinking and Readjusting Copyright Systems in the Digital Network Era" by Jerry Jie, Hua, 华劼, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: The establishment of copyright protection systems aims to achieve two important purposes; to stimulate the incentive for creation by granting authors a series of exclusive rights on the one hand, and promote the progress of culture and public welfare by establishing a series of limitations on these exclusive rights so that the flow of information and dissemination of knowledge will not be hindered on the other hand. There is always a close relationship between technology development and copyright law. The emergence of personal computers and the internet has brought about a distinct wave of technological innovation that has reshaped copyright laws by empowering anyone with a connection to flawless, inexpensive and instantaneous reproduction and distribution of works of authorship. Such technological advancement changes the interests of copyright owners and public users. Users are exposed to more opportunities brought about by digital network technology to obtain access and exploit copyrightable works. If copyright laws do not expand their protected subject matters and categories of exclusive rights, authors cannot be adequately compensated under the digital network environment. Copyright laws can no longer function as an incentive for creation if there is a lack of revision and appropriate expansion. Hence, copyright laws need to extend protection to new subject matters, such as computer programs and databases; grant right holders new kinds of rights, such as right of rental and right to network dissemination of information; establish indirect infringing liability for internet service providers; and expand protection to technological measures. However, copyright expansion should not be unlimited and should cease when appropriate access to various works and future creations is at risk. Expansion of copyright protection is only justified when the access and use of works by the public threaten the incentive of authors to create and reap economic rewards. Overexpansion of copyright protection would again disrupt the balance if access to works is narrowly restricted. Overprotection of copyrights will not only obstruct access to original works, but will also inhibit future creations based on the original works. Based on comparative research on international and regional conventions as well as laws, regulations, policies and cases among different jurisdictions, this thesis intends to suggest proposals to recover the balance of interests among copyright holders, technological intermediaries and public users in terms of accessing, distributing and exploiting copyrighted works. Four specific issues are discussed in the thesis: the anti-circumvention rules for protection of technological measures; indirect infringing liability for internet service providers and safe harbor regulations; copyright limitations and exceptions especially under the digital network environment; and digital commons projects which promote distribution and adaptation of copyrighted works placed under voluntary licensing schemes. The analysis of these issues and corresponding proposals for reform are not only to reverse the worldwide copyright expansion trend so as to make copyright laws appropriately respond to digital network challenges and the emerging remix culture in general, but also to induce China to rethink and amend her copyright system so as to restore a robust public domain w

Rethinking Cyberlaw

Rethinking Cyberlaw PDF Author: Jacqueline Lipton
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1781002185
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
The rapid increase in Internet usage over the past several decades has led to the development of new and essential areas of legislation and legal study. Jacqueline Lipton takes on the thorny question of how to define the field that has come to be known

Peer-to-peer File Sharing and Secondary Liability in Copyright Law

Peer-to-peer File Sharing and Secondary Liability in Copyright Law PDF Author: Alain Strowel
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1848449445
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
This is a book that has a lot to offer. Many of its readers will benefit from the first chapters which comprehensively analyse the case law and put it in context, whilst others will benefit more from the more conceptual chapters and the criticism of certain points and suggestions for a way forward contained in them. Paul L.C. Torremans, European Intellectual Property Review This timely volume offers a comprehensive review of case law, in various jurisdictions, on secondary liability for copyright infringement, particularly P2P file sharing and online infringements. Moreover, the book includes forward-looking contributions of prominent academics from the USA and the EU, which provide original perspectives on the future shape of online copyright law, looking at questions such as whether it could or even should evolve towards a compensation system. By combining these different avenues, the book will be of particular interest to practitioners, academics, researchers and legal scholars involved in the field of copyright law.