Another Win for the DMCA

A New York District Court continued the precedent of protecting Internet Service Provider's (ISP's) from infringement as long as they comply with the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA) safe harbor provisions. EMI filed action against Mp3tunes.com and its founder alleging copyright infringement. The ruling seems to have left EMI on top but ISP's are the real big winners in this one.

MP3tunes.com was found to be liable for contributory infringements after not complying with take-down requests from EMI for infringing songs, however the court didn't find the company liable for direct infringement based on the fact that users are the ones who upload the infringing material not Mp3tunes.com.

The court did find Michael Robertson, the companies founder liable for direct infringement for songs he personally uploaded but that's far from what EMI was seeking. As explained in an article published on CNet, the outcome for this case will protect, or at least implies that it will, new "cloud" music storage services becoming more popular among consumers. The sticking point is whether the service provider has control over the infringing acts of its users. The court found that Mp3tunes.com didn't have control allowing it to be protected through the DMCA's safe harbor provision.

The Safe harbor provisions allow ISP's to avoid liability for infringement if they remove infringing material when they become aware of it, usually through the copyright owner sending a request for removal. However, this case affirms a long line of cases which continue to show that ISP's have no obligation to monitor the user generated material on their websites. This will no doubt continue to frustrate copyright owners who just want to protect the exclusive rights they have been given from forms of unauthorized mass distribution available online.

Capitol Records, Inc. v. MP3Tunes, LLC, No. 07 Civ. 9931 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 22, 2011)