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Video Sharing Website Copyright Infringement

Posted on:2011-03-21Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:Q LinFull Text:PDF
GTID:2206330335497991Subject:Law
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
The video sharing website is a new kind of internet service provider.the initial purpose of these websites is for more and more people sharing their creative videos online with their friends.But nowadays,a lot of popular films and television series are uploaded to these websites by website users,which infringe the right of the copyright owner.For the reason above,these websites are frequently sued in court by the copyright owners in recent years.There is no disputes that these websites should be responsible for the copyright infringing videos they upload themselves.But there are a lot of disputes about whether these websites should be responsible for the videos uploaded by the third party,in most cases.the website users. There is no agreement on this point among the legal practitioners and scholars,the video sharing website and the copyright owner are in an uncertain difficult game position,which cost them much unnecessary legal fees and waste a lot of judicial resources of the society.The indirect tort liability is analyzed in detail in this paper in consideration of the related judicial cases and the special situation of the video sharing websites.The author will use basic tort liability theory during analyzing and give his own point of views and suggestions about the issue.In Chapter one, the general issue of the indirect copyright infringement liability of the video sharing websites is discussed.which include the general introduction of the website and tort liability.Firstly.the legal status and basic business model of the video sharing website is analyzed,the website is viewed as an internet service provider(ISP) in these situations; Secondly,the video sharing website generally undertake two kinds of liability during their business.the direct tort liability and the indirect tort liability.In our legal theory and judicial practice,the indirect tort liability generally include two forms:inducement liability and contributory liability.The video sharing website should undertake indirect tort liability if it actually perform some inducing or helpful act for the infringer.Finally.the predicament of the copyright owner and the website is discussed and the author point out that a simple but clear criterion is very important for the solution to the problem.In Chapter two.the author analyze the principle of liability for indirect tort liability.Firstly.the concept of the liability principle is analyzed to identify the basis for liability;Secondly,the value orientation of the principle of liability is discussed from two different angle.one of them is the balance between copyright protection and technology development,the other is the balance between profit and risk The author point out that the website should avoid undertaking too much liability.finally,the strict liability principle and the fault liability principle is compared and discussed on the basis of the law enacted by other countries.then the author reach the conclusion that the fault liability principle should govern in cases of indirect tort liability by video sharing website. In chapter three, the constitute elements of the indirect tort liability by video sharing website is discussed.firstly,the constitute elements of general tort liability is introduced,There are different views between professors,in which the author agree with the Four constitute elements theory.Secondly,the further analyzation is made about the constitute elements of tort liability of video sharing website.The author believe that the video sharing websites should not undertake liability just for their subjective will for attracting more website visitors.The website should only take responsibility in situations that it perform the concrete illegal contributory or inducing act.The illegal act itself is an indispensable elements of liability. Finally,the author analyze the four constitute elements of tort liability in detail,which include the illegal act,the subjective fault,the damage,the cause and effect relationship.Some point of views are given on detailed analyzation of these four elements.In chapter four,The authour analyze the "safe harbor" principle,which is the most important and controversial liability exemption principle of video sharing website in legal practice.Firstly,the author introduce the legal origin of "safe harbor" principle in American law and the related articles in "The Right of Communication through Information Network" and "Tort Liability Law of the People's Republic of China",then analyze several applying pre-conditions of "safe harbor" principle repectively in consideration of some domestic and international judgements as well as some related scholar's views.The author point out that the "notice in advance" practice is actually the most useful procedure provided by the legislature department.which afford a good balance of interest between the copyright owner and the video sharing website. For this reason,the copyright owner should be encouraged to use the "notice in advance" procedure before the lauch of lawsuit. In legal practice,the court often jump to conclusions too hasty that the video sharing website is subjectively faulty in performance,which actually discourage the copyright owner from chosing the notice procedure.Secondly,the criteria of the subjective faulty is analyzed in an independent section,the author discuss the question in different angles at first,which include "the main purpose of business","the performance about duty of care","the range and level of knowing",then point out that the court should repect the protection of the website's right afforded by the "safe harbor" principle especially in cases that the right owner does not give the notice in advance. The court should not misuse the " redflag" principle to presume that the website "knowing" or "having a good reason to know" the existence of the copyright infringing videos.The care of duty of the website in such technology details like column setup,the video editing and the filtration of key words should not enhance the responsibility level of these web sites in supervising or monitoring aspect.The court can only make the conclusion that the website knowing or having a good reason to know the existence of such copyright infringing videos in some specific and clear situations.In chapter five,Some solutions to the indirect tort liability of video sharing website are discussed,firstly,the author give some suggestions from the legal practices angle.in which incluing the certainty of the judgement,the increasement of the damage compensation.the coercive applying of notice in advance procedure.the encouragement of the prevention measures etc.Secondly,jumping out of the box of law,the author give some advices and concrete measures about the solution to the problem from the angle of business model and the balance of value orientation.
Keywords/Search Tags:Indirect Copyright Tort Liability, Principle of Liability, Safe Harbor Principle, Solution
PDF Full Text Request
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