Three Strikes Archives - Barry Sookman

Robert Levine and Brett Danaher at CMW

Last week, Robert Levine, author of Free Ride: How Digital Parasites are Destroying the Culture Business, and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back, and Brett Danaher, the author of a study on the effect of France’s HADOPI graduated response law, participated in several events in Toronto. This included talks by Robert Levine at the Economic Club, at Osoode Hall Law School, and at Canadian Music Week and by Brett Danaher at Osgoode Hall law School and Canadian Music Week.…

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UN report on internet disconnection flawed and contrary to jurisprudence

Recently, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression released a controversial report in which he stated he was

“alarmed by proposals to disconnect users from Internet access if they violate intellectual property rights. This also includes legislation based on the concept of “graduated response”, which imposes a series of penalties on copyright infringers that could lead to suspension of Internet service, such as the so-called “three strikes-law” in France and the Digital Economy Act 2010 of the United Kingdom.”

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YouTube adopts “copyright school” to stop copyright infringement

YouTube has changed its copyright policy. YouTube already has a policy that involves suspending accounts of YouTube users who have three copyright strikes. Now, if YouTube receives a notification that a user’s video is infringing the user will be required to go to “YouTube Copyright School”. A second change in the policy relaxes YouTube’s copyright strikes from a user’s accounts if the user completes the YouTube Copyright School and has demonstrated good behavior over time.

The Official YouTube Blog says the following:

If we receive a copyright notification for one of your videos, you’ll now be required to attend “YouTube Copyright School,” which involves watching a copyright tutorial and passing a quiz to show that you’ve paid attention and understood the content before uploading more content to YouTube.

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iiNet court backs reasonableness of graduated response to stop illegal file sharing

Last week the Australian Full Court released its decision in the landmark case Roadshow Films Pty Limited v iiNet Limited, [2011] FCAFC 23. The Australian appeals court by majority dismissed the appeal from the decision of the primary judge who had held that iiNet, an ISP in Australia that had not acted on any information provided to it by copyright owners, was not liable for authorizing the copyright infringement of its subscribers who had used its facilities to engage in unlicensed peer to peer file sharing.…

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Graduated response: a least cost solution to reducing online copyright infringement

A new article, Three strikes law: a least cost solution to rampant online piracy, published by Charn Wing Wan, argues that graduated response systems can be justified on economic grounds as a way of reducing transaction costs associated with enforcing online copyright infringement.

The abstract of the article states the following:

“Legal context: The prohibitively high cost of civil litigation is inefficient against millions of online infringers; it is virtually impossible to stop online infringement. The establishment and maintenance of a social norm which makes people willing to conform to pro-copyright norms independent of any consideration of legal incentives is indispensable in the fight against online infringers.…

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Is graduated response necessary to protect human rights from online copyright infringement?

Last week, the Irish High Court released an important decision in the EMI Records & Ors -v- Eircom Ltd , [2010] IEHC 108 case. The court held that a settlement agreement between an Irish ISP, Eircom, and owners of copyright protected sound recordings and videos to implement a voluntary graduated response system was compatible with Irish data protection legislation. The ruling by Justice Charleton delivered on 16th April, 2010, is noteworthy not only because it found that collecting and using IP addresses for the purposes of sending out graduated response notices to subscribers does not violate data protection legislation.…

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A framework for voluntary graduated response in online copyright enforcement

More and more, graduated response systems are being debated and put forward as legitimate solutions to online file sharing. In a recent article, “Graduated Response and the Turn to Private Ordering in Online Copyright Enforcement“, Professor Annmarie Bridy of theUniversity of Idaho College of Law explains why “voluntary graduated response, as publicly controversial as it is, is squarely on the table as corporate rights owners and broadband providers discuss their respective roles in the future of online copyright enforcement.” …

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Debating graduated response at the Center for Democracy and Technology

The US Center for Democracy and Technology recently hosted a debate about the pros and cons of graduated responses systems. The debate can be seen below.

As Canada considers its options for copyright reform, we should be focusing not on whether we should implement graduated response, but on how we ought to do it.

France, the UK, and New Zealand have shown the way. Representatives from Belgium and now Turkey have also expressed support for implementing such a regime. Yesterday’s iiNet decision in Australia shows that self-regulatory approaches may not work out as expected. …

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A reply to ACTA critics

Last week was another busy week for developments in ACTA. There were meetings in Mexico by representatives from Canada and its key trading partners to further flesh out how to address the worldwide problems with counterfeiting and piracy. Meanwhile, anti-copyright critics were busy filling the blogosphere and press attacking the proposed treaty.

Of course, the actual text of the treaty is not know by the public. So commentators have relied on their interpretations of leaked documents to try and derail it.…

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The costs and benefits of graduated response in copyright enforcement

There recently has been a debate over the economic costs and benefits behind graduated response systems aimed at reducing online file sharing. Professor Geist, for example, recently posted a blog estimating the costs of a graduated response system. I believe the topic of the costs and benefits of graduated response mechanisms is an important one. Let us take a closer look at this topic and the assertion that graduated response cannot be justified because of its costs.

Until now, the roll-out of the Internet, which has contributed to the mass consumption of digital equipment at the end-user level, has ensured that digital information is the universal means through which the whole planet can easily communicate.…

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