European Intermediary Liability in Copyright: A Tort-based Analysis
Christina Angelopoulos - Wolters Kluwer, 2017
Informatiion Law Series Volume 39
The
European Harmonisation of Intermediary Accessory Liability in Copyright
provides a clarification on the substantive rules of European
intermediary accessory liability in copyright and formulates harmonised
European norms to govern this complicated topic. In step with the rapid
progress to the centre of modern social, political, and economic life,
the internet has proven a convenient vehicle for the commission of
unprecedented levels of copyright infringement. Given the formidable
practical obstacles to the successful pursuit of actual perpetrators, it
has become common for intermediaries - providers of internet-related
infrastructure and services - to face liability as accessories. Despite
advances in policy at the European level, the law in this area remains
far from consistently applicable. This is the first book to take a
law-based approach towards exploring a possible introduction of a
substantive European intermediary liability.
How this will help you:
This book discusses the issue of the liability of internet intermediaries for third-party copyright infringement that has entered into the political agenda across the globe, giving rise to one of the most complex, contentious, and fascinating debates in modern copyright law. This book offers an opportunity for a re-conceptualisation and rationalisation of the applicable law, in a way which better accounts for the cross-border nature of the internet. The proposed reintegration of intermediary accessory copyright liability into underlying national tort norms, common principles of European tort law, and the European law of fundamental rights will prove to be of inestimable value to many interested parties - lawyers, internet intermediaries, NGOs, policymakers, universities, libraries, researchers, lobbyists - in matters regarding the information society.
The
European Harmonisation of Intermediary Accessory Liability in Copyright
provides a clarification on the substantive rules of European
intermediary accessory liability in copyright and formulates harmonised
European norms to govern this complicated topic. In step with the rapid
progress to the centre of modern social, political, and economic life,
the internet has proven a convenient vehicle for the commission of
unprecedented levels of copyright infringement. Given the formidable
practical obstacles to the successful pursuit of actual perpetrators, it
has become common for intermediaries - providers of internet-related
infrastructure and services - to face liability as accessories. Despite
advances in policy at the European level, the law in this area remains
far from consistently applicable. This is the first book to take a
law-based approach towards exploring a possible introduction of a
substantive European intermediary liability.
What's in this book:
With
a detailed comparative analysis of relevant regimes in three major
Member State jurisdictions - England, France, and Germany - the author
elucidates the relationship between these rules and the demands of EU
law on fundamental rights and the principles of European tort law. On
this basis, she clearly presents the interrelations between such areas
as the following:
- accessory liability in tort;
- joint tortfeasance;
- European fault-based liability: fault, causation, defences;
- negligence;
- negligence balancing: rights-based or utility-based;
- Germany's 'disturbance liability' (Storerhaftung);
- fair balance in human rights;
- end-users' fundamental rights;
- the European Commission's 2015 Communication on a Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe;
- the E-Commerce Directive and other relevant provisions;
- safe harbours: mere conduit, caching, hosting;
- intermediary actions: monitoring, filtering, blocking, removal of infringing content; and
- application of remedies: damages and injunctions.
How this will help you:
This book discusses the issue of the liability of internet intermediaries for third-party copyright infringement that has entered into the political agenda across the globe, giving rise to one of the most complex, contentious, and fascinating debates in modern copyright law. This book offers an opportunity for a re-conceptualisation and rationalisation of the applicable law, in a way which better accounts for the cross-border nature of the internet. The proposed reintegration of intermediary accessory copyright liability into underlying national tort norms, common principles of European tort law, and the European law of fundamental rights will prove to be of inestimable value to many interested parties - lawyers, internet intermediaries, NGOs, policymakers, universities, libraries, researchers, lobbyists - in matters regarding the information society.
