Research On Internet Service Provider’s Liability For Copyright Infringement

The twenty-first century is undoubtedly the time of "internet copyrights". Setting up the standard for the transmission of works whose copyrights take the internet as a carrier is of top priority in the reform of regulations for copyrights in China now and in the future.The first dispute resulting from internet copyright dates back to1999, and from then on, dispute about internet copyright has long been a controversial topic among China’s legal professionals. How to balance the responsibilities of ISP, the copyright owner and the public remains a thorny question.The spreading of a work by internet will go through many procedures. First there is uploading, spreading and downloading of the work, also there will be the use of a searching engine and P2P software. Under this kind of internet environment, it’s unlikely to find the one implementing the copyright infringement, so it is much common that the copyright owners will hold that the ISP should be liable as joint infringers or bear all the liabilities.Therefore, research on internet service provider’s liability for copyright infringement will have great significance. The perfection of regulations for ISP liability about copyright infringement will not only protect the internet environment, make the internet a better carrier for communicating and spreading of works, but will also protect the benefit of internet service providers, which will bring internet development of our country to the maximum extent by using the existing technologies.This essay has five parts:In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and European laws, this study offers a detail explanation of laws and judicial practice of ISP’s liability for copyright infringement at home and abroad, the development of copyrights in China, the existing law and its limitations and the suggestions for a better regulations and rules about copyrights in China.