On The Copyright Tort Liability Of The Internet Service Provider

The birth and development of Information Network Technology has totally changed thetraditional mode of the dissemination of works, making the works disseminate at anunprecedented speed on a global scale. In spite of the fact that Information Network hasimproved the public’s ability to disseminate their works and obtain works from others, it hasalso resulted in a continuous decrease in the copyright owners’ capacity to actually controltheir works. Faced with more and more copyright tort cases, the copyright owners seem to behelpless to change this situation; it appears that all they can do is to accept the infringement oftheir lawful rights and interests. In view of the special status of Internet Service Providers(ISPs) in the Network, to effectively regulate their torts of copyrights has become particularlyimportant, and to provide a more scientific and reasonable basis of copyright legislation in thenetwork setting has become an issue of the utmost importance. This paper mainly discussesproblems related to ISPs’ tort liability for copyright. It consists of three parts, namely, theintroduction, the main text and the epilogue, in which the main text is further divided into fivechapters.Chapter one: The introduction.Based on the present situation of the development ofChina’s Internet industry, this chapter provides a brief introduction to the social backgroundof ISPs’ copyright tort.Chapter two: An overview on ISPs. This chapter mainly focuses on the definition,classification of ISPs and their role in the dissemination of works. Besides, it also talks aboutthe legal obligations of the three kinds of ISPs.Chapter three: General analysis on ISPs’ torts of copyright. It highlights the definition,the basic characters and the constitutional items of ISPs’ torts of copyright.Chapter four: This chapter first discusses the classification of ISPs’ tort liability forcopyright, taking the judicial practice in China and America as an example. Then it putsgreat emphasis on analyzing the principle of the tort liability for copyright of ISPs whoprovide information and those who provide network platforms.Chapter five: Limitations of liability on ISPs’ copyright torts. This chapter firstdiscusses the necessity of proper limitations on ISPs, and then introduces some typical legalprovisions on limitations of liability in domestic and foreign countries, which function as animportant component of the system of ISPs’ tort liability for copyright.Chapter six: The exploration on resolutions of ISPs’ copyright tort. This chapter, basedon the above discussions on basic issues of ISPs’ tort liability for copyright and further integrated with China’s national conditions and social backgrounds, provides several adviceson improving China’s system of network copyright protection. It mainly discusses this issuefrom5different aspects, including strengthening ISPs’ consciousness of copyright andimproving the system of tort liability for Network copyright.Chapter seven: The epilogue.