Copyright In The Digital Medium

Introduction
Copyright protects the look & feel of A

website
Every Web page is a literary
copyrightable work

Copyright And Digital World

oTechnology-Double edged sword

Creating new means to fix original
expressions in a tangible form
The same being exploited in
infringing
the copyrights with impunity

Copyright & Internet Activities

1.Caching
2.Browsing
3.Mirroring
4.Downloading
5.Uploading
6.File swapping-P2P transmission/P2P sharing

Do the above activities infringe the

five exclusive statutory rights
of a copyright owner?

Acts Amounting to Infringement

Transmission involving temporary storage of

information
Unauthorised storage of information
Violation of exclusive distribution rights
Appearance of a copyright image in web
Browser-violation of public display right
Infringement of exclusive right to prepare deriva
works

Legal Aspects Of File

Sharing
Peer-to-peer ("P2P") technology allows
people worldwide to share files and data
includes some that is subject to copyright,
which has been targeted by rights holders
peer-to-peer networks can be used for
legitimate purposes.

Architecture Of P2P Systems

Vary
centralized server
decentralized with no one site operating
the system
Newer P2P system architectures often
include measures to conceal the identities
of senders, recipients and material.

Legal Issues In P2p Sharing And

Bit Torrent

Novelty of Legal issues

The challenges facing copyright holders in the face of file
sharing systems are historically novel, and highlight many
new challenges in both theory and practice:
Ambiguities in the interpretation of copyright law
The
new
challenges
posed
by
international
communications and varying legislations
Mass litigation and the development of processes
forevidenceanddiscovery
Rapidly
developing
new
technologies
and
uses,
includingfile hostingsites
Low barriers to entry by would-be sharers and the
development of a mass usage of the technologies

What is P2P??
Systems which allows only mutually trusted peers to
participate.
Achieved by using a central server or Direct connect
hubs to authenticate clients.
Users can exchange passwords or cryptographic
keys with friends to form a decentralized network.
Also called as friend-to-friend (F2F) or group-based
systems.
Friend-to-friend systems only allow connections
between users who know one another.
Group-based networks allow any user to connect to
any other, and thus they cannot grow in size without
compromising their users' privacy.

What Is File Sharing

Practice of distributing or providing access to
digitally stored information, such as computer
programs, multi-media (audio, video),
documents or electronic books.
May be implemented in a variety of storage,
transmission, and distribution models.
Common methods are manual sharing using
removable media, centralized computer file
server installations on computer networks,
World Wide Web-based hyperlinked documents,
and the use of distributed peer-to-peer (P2P)
networking.

Is File Sharing Illegal

Per se not illegal.
Increasing popularity of the MP3 music
format in the late 1990s led to the release
and growth of Napster and other software
that aided the sharing of electronic files.
Led to a huge growth in illegal file sharing,
the sharing of copyright protected files
without permission.

Is P2P per se unlawful

Not per se unlawful
No infringement of copyright in merely using P2P software.
Nor will the use of P2P to share files involve a copyright
infringement where the owner of copyright in the material
being shared has consented to this.
Use of P2P to share or trade copyright works without the
consent of license of the copyright owner has the potential to
give rise to an action for infringement of copyright.

Ohio v. Perry
Uploading = copying
Downloading = copying
Unauthorized copying = unauthorized use that is
governed by the copyright laws.
Therefore, unauthorized uploading and
unauthorized downloading are unauthorized uses
governed by the copyright laws

What is Permissible..
To download music from sites authorized by
the owners of the copyrighted music,
whether or not such sites charge a fee

Not Permissible..

download unauthorized music from pirate sites (web or FTP) or peer-to-peer

systems. Examples of peer-to-peer systems making unauthorized music available
for download include: Kazaa, Grokster, WinMX, LimeWire, Bearshare, Aimster,
Morpheus, and Gnutella.
to make unauthorized copies of music available to others (that is, uploading
music) on peer-to-peer systems.
to copy music onto an analog cassette, but not for commercial purposes.
to copy music onto special Audio CD-Rs, mini-discs, and digital tapes (because
royalties have been paid on them) but, again, not for commercial purposes.
theres no legal "right" to copy the copyrighted music on a CD onto a CD-R.
However, burning a copy of CD onto a CD-R, or transferring a copy onto your
computer hard drive or your portable music player, wont usually raise concerns
so long as:

The copy is made from an authorized original CD that you legitimately own

The copy is just for your personal use. Its not a personal use in fact, its
illegal to give away the copy or lend it to others for copying.
The owners of copyrighted music have the right to use protection technology to
allow or prevent copying.
its never okay to sell or make commercial use of a copy that you make.

WHAT IS BIT TORRENT AND

HOW DOES IT WORK ?
A peer-to-peer sharing protocol used for distributing large
amounts of data.
Allows users to distribute large amounts of data without the
heavy demands on their computers that would be needed for
standard Internet hosting.
This distributed nature of BitTorrent leads to a flood like
spreading of a file throughout peers.
Relative to standard Internet hosting, this provides a
significant reduction in the original distributor's hardware and
bandwidth resource costs.
Also provides redundancy against system problems, reduces
dependence on the original distributor and provides a source
for the file which is generally temporary and therefore harder
to trace than when provided by the enduring availability of a

WHAT CONSTITUTES
INFRINGEMENT
MGM et al v. Grokster et. Al.
"One who distributes a device with the object of
promoting its use to infringe copyright...is liable for
the resulting acts of infringement by third parties
using the device".
Is the distributor of file-sharing software, which is
used for the unauthorized sharing of copyrightprotected files, liable for the copyright
infringement resulting from such act? The United
States Supreme Court answered: Yes, if such
distributor took active steps to encourage the

A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster,

Inc.
The music industry made the following claims against
Napster:
a. That its users were directly infringing the plaintiff's
copyright;
b. That Napster was liable for contributory infringement of
the plaintiff's copyright; and
c. That Napster was liable for vicarious infringement of
the plaintiff's copyright.
Napster lost the case in the District Court and appealed
to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Napster was unable to follow District courts direction

MGM et al v. Grokster et. Al

Twenty-eight movie studios, music companies and other

copyright holders, headed by MGM studios, filed suit against
Grokster and Streamcast for copyright infringement. Grokster
and Streamcast distributed file-sharing software which was
used for sharing many copyright-protected music and movie
files via peer-to-peer networks.

MGM et. al argued that Grokster and Streamcast are liable for
the copyright infringement carried out by the users of their
software under a secondary liability theory of "contributory
infringement". They moved for damages and an injunction.

The US Supreme Court held that Grokster and Streamcast are

liable for copyright infringement caused by the users of the
software because they distributed the software with the
object of promoting its use for infringing copyright. In doing
sothey induced the users to infringe the rights.

COPYRIGHT IN BLOGS