The Internet and Copyright Infringement

Copyright is exactly thatùthe right to copy a given work. At its birth more than 300 years ago, it referred only to written work. Indeed, even today, written works are what spring to mind when one mentions copyright. Or maybe we think of money, which is what copyright is all about.

By giving someone the absolute right to reproduce a work, written or otherwise, that person enjoys the absolute right to exploit that work for pecuniary gain. Theoretically, this provides incentives for some (but not all) writers to write and some (but not all) painters to paint. But that right must be balanced against society's needs. This is especially true in the United States, where democracy relies on a free and unrestrained debate. That reliance is enshrined into law in the form of the First Amendment's guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of press.

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ng from home taping. Two years later, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed this decision, finding Sony liable for contributory infringement. The Court held that the harm that would result from an injunction did not justify offering no relief to the aggrieved parties. If harm would result from an injunction, a damage award would suffice. This time Congress reacted. Two days after the decision, two Senators introduced a bill to overturn the ruling. The movie studios, facing defeat, gave up their demand for injunctive relief and adopted the approach of the Ninth Circuit by asking for royalties. Competing bills bogged down in Congress while Sony appealed its defeat to the U.S. Supreme Court. Scholars would later learn that the Court debated the issue back and forth, with justices constantly shifting sides. An initial vote favored the studios, but the justices feared that their opinion would strangle a new technology in its infancy. Finally, the justices ruled in favor of Sony and established a new standard for contributory infringement. The original standard, announced by Justice Holmes during the early part of the 20th century, examined the primary use of a product to determine if the manufacturer could be li
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Approximate Word count = 4505
Approximate Pages = 18 (250 words per page)

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