Legal aspects arising from case law relating to copyright infringement in P2P networks

Abstract

This thesis seeks to highlight the lack of legislative measures which bridge the contrasting worlds which copyright and the fast paced technological advancements (with the subsidiary benefits which they bring about) represent. Though a number of legislative initiatives have been taken around the world, most predominantly the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the United States of America and the recent Digital Economy Act in the United Kingdom, there still exists a lack of clarity which in turn puts the burden on the courts to find a reasonable balance between such conflicting interests. Chapter 2 is predominantly dedicated to the analysis of landmark judgements dealing with the court's quest to balance copyrighted interests with the threat which technological advancements pose to copyright infringement, specifically with respect to downloads from the world wide web or P2P networks. Chapter 3 proceeds with an aftermath analysis of the more important defences raised in the landmark judgments identified and analysed in the previous chapter. The result is that of identifying what Courts have deemed as being imperative in finding secondary liability on the part of the defendants and in so doing establishing the basis for future decisions. In a world where successful business models require clarity, in the absence or lack of clear legislative response, Court decisions are the more predominant source of information. After identifying the basics as arising from the landmark judgments, Chapter 4 proceeds with the analysis of, arguably, the most important case with respect to the more recent P2P developments - The Pirate Bay Case. In this chapter, the basics as identified in Chapter 3 are applied and an implied analysis is carried out as to whether the said basics can stand the test of time and of the technological advancements. Furthermore, an overview of the effects of this decision is undertaken by making reference to a number of European Countries where it's effects were most predominantly felt and how the courts reacted in applying or not applying the decision taken in the Swedish Courts. The decision of the Pirate Bay Case created a revolution which led to the highlighting of other areas and services which are indirectly linked with the downloading from the world wide web. Chapter 5 therefore proceeds with the identification of such other services such as those offered by Internet Service Providers, or websites offering online media browsing like Youtube or Rapidshare who offer online storage for it's customers, and the way these have been involved through legal actions. By way of conclusion this thesis goes on to identify the various legal frameworks which have arisen from the World Intellectual Property Organisation and proceed with identifying prospects for the future ranging from the proposed '3 strikes rule' applied in France and the United Kingdom and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement which is being favoured by many Countries around the globe to effectively combat file sharing through P2P networks and other copyright infringement carried out over the internet.