Last week, the UK government confirmed its intention to implement the graduated response process set out in the UK Digital Economy Act 2010 (DEA). Several documents released along with the response to Professor Hargreaves’ Review of Intellectual Property and Growth summarized the UK process and compared it with the graduated response processes enacted in France and New Zealand. See, Draft-Sharing-of-Costs statutory-instrument, Impact Assessment for the Sharing of Costs Statutory Instrument, and Digital Economy Act Appeals Process: Options for reducing costs. The documents provide a useful summary of how these different international laws designed to reduce online file sharing work.
Posts Tagged ‘Graduated Response’
UK moving ahead with graduated response after Hargreaves Review of IP
August 10th, 2011UN report on internet disconnection flawed and contrary to jurisprudence
June 13th, 2011Recently, 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.”
YouTube adopts “copyright school” to stop copyright infringement
April 14th, 2011YouTube 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:
New Zealand passes law to reduce online file sharing
April 14th, 2011New Zealand just enacted legislation that puts in place a three-notice regime to deter illegal file sharing.
The three-notice regime involves ISPs sending warning notices to their customers informing them they may have infringed copyright. The legislation extends the jurisdiction of the NZ Copyright Tribunal to provide an efficient, low-cost process to hear illegal file-sharing claims. The tribunal will be able to make awards of up to $15,000 based on damage sustained by the copyright owner.
Rethinking notice and notice after C-32
April 4th, 2011Canada’s last three copyright bills, C-60, C-61 and C-32, attempted to curb illegal online file sharing by requiring ISPs to forward notices of claimed infringements to customers. Canada’s ISPs had advocated for this “notice and notice” process claiming it was effective. However, they never produced any empirical evidence or studies to back up their claims.
EMI Records v UPC – the case for legislative solutions to illegal file sharing
October 11th, 2010Earlier today, the Irish High Court released its decision on whether it would grant an injunction against an ISP (in this case UPC) requiring it to implement a graduated response solution to reduce unauthorized file sharing of music. After reviewing a large amount of evidence and hearing from experts, the Court ruled that this type of order would be just and proportionate. However, it ruled that it lacked the jurisdiction to make such an order.
Here are some of the important findings made by Justice Charleton, the same judge who presided over the EMI Records & Ors -v- Eircom Ltd, [2010] IEHC 108 case :
Canada called out for weak copyright laws by IFPI and at the Heritage Committee
April 30th, 2010Digital piracy remains one of the biggest obstacles for the recording industry. It is an especially significant problem here in Canada. A major contributor is weak copyright protection which limits the development of new business models for music in Canada. These are the conclusions of the IFPI which just published a report setting out a comprehensive picture of the key trends in today’s music business including key trends in Canada. It is also the opinion of representatives of the recording industry who appeared before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last week.
Graduated response: a least cost solution to reducing online copyright infringement
April 26th, 2010A 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:
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