Title: When first we practice to deceive: arresting online copyright infringement through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Authors: Lateef Mtima

Addresses: Howard University School of Law, USA

Abstract: The problem of internet copyright infringement is one of the important copyright challenges of the day. In 1998, the US Congress undertook to address this issue by passing the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, which provides |safe harbour| immunity to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from vicarious liability claims for subscriber infringement. Some recent court decisions interpreting the act, however, threaten this balance of the pertinent internet constituent interests. This article proposes that these court decisions misconstrue the terms of the act, and contravene the express objectives of the statute, by needlessly entangling ISPs in infringement disputes between copyright holders and internet end-users.

Keywords: Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998; world wide web; Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act 1998; US Congress; USA; United States; safe harbour immunity; internet service providers; ISPs; vicarious liability; subscriber infringement; court decisions; statutes; legal disputes; copyright holders; internet end-users; private law.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPL.2010.033406

International Journal of Private Law, 2010 Vol.3 No.3, pp.197 - 220

Published online: 02 Jun 2010 *

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