BitTorrent is one of the most popular peer to peer (p2p) file sharing protocols used for distributing large amounts of data. As BitTorrent has been used to download and distribute copyright infringing material such as music, movies and software, copyright owners seeking legal remedies for copyright infringement brought lawsuits against alleged infringers including BitTorrent users, torrent site providers and Internet service providers. Recently, a group of copyright owners filed lawsuit against hundreds or thousands of BitTorrent users as defendants in a single copyright infringement lawsuit. ".torrent" files can be downloaded by users all over the world and it is difficult to locate and identify anonymous unknown defendants. Therefore, the massive lawsuits against the "John Doe" defendants are likely to be dismissed because of the improper joinder and improper jurisdiction issues. The massive copyright infringement lawsuit could be misused by the copyright owner to threaten BitTorrent users and eventually settle with the individual defendants for certain amount of money. Torrent site providers should not be excluded in the BitTorrent copyright infringement lawsuit. In order to locate ".torrent" files containing the content that they wish to download, BitTorrent users must visit a torrent site which maintain indexes of available torrent files, or users may upload torrent files to share with others through the torrent sites. In Grokster, the U.S. Supreme Court held that "one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression of other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties." In determining the torrent site provider's contributory liability on inducement, the U.S. court considered evidence of clear expression of other affirmative steps of the unlawful objective to promote infringement such as the message or the features to stimulate others to commit infringements, technical assistance to users seeking copyright works, explicit statements by defendants. On February, 2011, the Australia court found that Internet service providers (ISPs) are not liable for what their users do with the services the ISPs provide them. However, after this decision, several major Australian ISPs have refined their approach to piracy infringement warnings. The current trend in copyright infringement lawsuits against BitTorrent users and the developed theory of contributory liability or inducement infringement suggests the constructive analysis of the transmission right under our copyright act.
목차
Ⅰ. 서론 Ⅱ. BitTorrent에 의한 File Sharing의 구조 Ⅲ. BitTorrent 이용자의 책임 1. 배포행위 간주이론(The Deemed Distribution Theory) 2. 신원미상의 이용자들을 상대로 한 공동소송 3. BitTorrent의 “Swarm”을 상대로 한 소송 Ⅳ. Torrent 사이트 운영자의 기여책임 1. Torrent 사이트 운영자의 의도의 명백한 표현이나 행위 2. 저작권 침해물의 사용 정도에 따른 유인의도의 추론 3. 부작위에 의한 유인의도의 추론 Ⅴ. 인터넷 서비스 제공자의 책임 Ⅵ. 결론 참고문헌
키워드
저작권 침해의 기여책임유인행위에 의한 기여책임인터넷 서비스 제공자의 책임Torrent 사이트BitTorrentP2P file sharingBitTorrentP2P file sharingContributory InfringementInducing Copyright infringementInternet Service ProviderTorrent site
저자
박유선 [ Park, Yu-Sun | 법학박사, J.D., 미국변호사(New York/District of Columbia). ]
본 학회는 지식재산 및 관련 제도(특허, 실용신안, 상표, 디자인, 영업비밀, 저작권, 반도체칩, 컴퓨터프로그램, 데이터베이스, 디지털콘텐츠 등)에 관한 국내외 이론과 실무에 대한 연구를 촉진하여 지식재산분야의 학문간 융합발전과 국제적 유대를 강화하고, 지식재산에 관한 지식을 보급하여 인적 네트워크 구축과 정책제언을 추진하며 이를 통해 국가발전에 이바지하는 것을 목적으로 한다.