Volume II

Issue : 13: June 24, 2004

• Canadian Spammer Settles CAN-SPAM Lawsuit
• Extracting and Posting Website Facts Not Copyright Infringement
• Federal Court Overturns Privacy Commissioners Finding in Video Surveillance Case
• US Court Says No to Employment Notification Sent via Email
• EC Releases Consultation Paper on Regulation of VoIP - U.S. Justice Department seeks Regulation of VoIP to Facilitate Police Surveillance
• Zero-Knowledge Initiates Copyright Suit Against IBM
• French Court Fines AOL for Abusive and Illegal Contracts
• U.S. Appeals Court Finds No Civil Liability for Mere Possession of Pirate Access Devices
• ISPs Not Liable for Copyright Infringement for Storing Data

Home > Volume II > Issue 13: June 24, 2004 > ISPs Not Liable for Copyright Infringement for Storing Data

ISPs Not Liable for Copyright Infringement for Storing Data

In the recent case of CoStar Group v. Loopnet Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit found that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are not liable for copyright infringement when they passively store data. Specifically, the Court found that "the automatic copying, storage, and transmission of copyrighted materials, when instigated by others, does not render an ISP strictly liable for copyright infringement under §§ 501 and 106 of the [U.S.] Copyright Act." However, the Court found that an ISP could become liable indirectly upon "a showing of additional involvement sufficient to establish a contributory or vicarious violation of the Act, in which case, the ISP could still look to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for a safe harbor if it fulfilled the conditions contained in the DMCA for the protection of ISPs.

For a copy of the decision, visit:

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/circs/4th/031911p.pdf