In a court case between The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and Newzbin, the High Court has ruled in favor of the MPA and provided much needed clarity to UK copyright law.
In a court case similar to those against Kazaa and The Pirate Bay, the High Court had the duty of determining the law on “internet intermediaries” that allow users to host and download illegal content, even if they may not be supplying it themselves. The High Court has declared that Newzbin is liable for the copyright infringement of its users as it did “authorize” the downloading by providing a system that encouraged illegal behavior.
Prior to this ruling, UK ISP’s, indexing services, and other online service providers were treading on murky waters, not knowing the true scope of the law due to the lack of any test court cases. Companies formerly had nothing but a physical tape-to-tape copying case to answer any of their copyright infringement questions. Silencing those concerns, the High Court has provided enough information to clarify all potential issues.
The High Court held that most of the companies should continue acting as they previously have; they should proceed with “notice and takedown” policies and also implement them. The High Court stressed the importance of the call to action. Newzbin was successful on the first front in that it posted warnings telling its users not to infringe on copyright law. However, their true actions were described as “window dressing” in that the company’s behavior rarely matched its rhetoric as they did little to remove any illegal content from users.
This result should surprise no one, but will provide welcome clarity to European law.
