[Commons-Law] IsoHunt seeks pre-emptive ruling on legality of Bittorrent search engines
Via: "Pranesh Prakash"
Since this is news from Canada, it includes insightful comments by Prof. Geist:
"The interesting question is how will the court characterize (Fung's
[IsoHunt's owner] arguments), because the broader legal implications
for copyright and for many parties - search engines and the like -
could be affected by the outcome of this case."
From: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081105/technology/technology_music_copyright_battle
Canadian owner of popular downloading site seeks court ruling on its legality
Wed Nov 5, 4:11 PM
By Michael Oliveira, The Canadian Press
TORONTO - The Canadian owner of one of the Internet's most popular
sites for downloading everything from music to porn is pre-emptively
asking the Supreme Court of British Columbia to rule on whether he is
violating the Copyright Act.
Gary Fung, 25, of Richmond, B.C., runs the IsoHunt.com search engine
for BitTorrent files, which are commonly used to download and upload
virtually every type of copyrighted material, including music, movies,
computer software and e-books.
The site currently links to more than 1.5 million files online, such
as the latest chart-topping CDs, video games, DVDs and even movies
currently in theatres.
Isohunt.com regularly cracks the Top 200 list of the web's most
popular sites, according to analysts at Alexa.com.
"It serves a need that had not been served before, especially with the
emergence of BitTorrent becoming a dominant (downloading) protocol,"
Fung said of the site's popularity.
Fung has been named in a lawsuit launched in 2006 by the Motion
Picture Association of America.
After receiving letters last May from the Canadian Recording Industry
Association demanding he take down links to copyrighted material, Fung
decided he would ask the courts to rule on whether his site breaks
Canadian law.
"We filed the court documents because we were threatened by CRIA.
Essentially they're saying that all we do is infringe on their
clients' copyrights," he said.
The letters Fung received argued his site is "responsible for causing,
authorizing and contributing to a staggering amount of illegal music
downloading, uploading and file sharing."
The letters also state Fung could be responsible for copyright
infringement damages of up to $20,000 per song.
But Fung insists his search-engine website doesn't break any laws
since it simply links to copyrighted material online but doesn't host
any of it. He notes that Google can also be easily used to find
BitTorrent files.
"IsoHunt does not consider that its operations ... infringe or violate
in any way the Copyright Act and therefore seeks the protection of ...
(the B.C. court) in the form of declaratory relief in relation to
clarification of its legal rights in respect of its operation," Fung
states in his petition to the court.
IsoHunt.com has a policy of taking down links to files when contacted
by copyright owners and has removed more than 50,000 links since 2004,
Fung said.
It's similar to the policy that was imposed upon the makers of the
Napster downloading software when they were sued for copyright
infringement, Fung said.
He added that he invited CRIA to send in requests to remove links but
the association "has refused to do that."
CRIA said it would not comment on the case.
Michael Geist, a copyright expert at the University of Ottawa, said
IsoHunt.com's take-down policy is similar to what most BitTorrent
download sites do in an attempt to avoid legal action.
"Many, many sites argue that there's simply too much content posted
(on their sites) to actively monitor so they're entitled to presume
their service is being used lawfully" until a copyright holder
complains, he said.
"And that's when their potential liability kicks in if they take no
steps to address it."
The case could have a broad impact and affect a variety of Canadian
websites, and not just BitTorrent download sites, Geist said.
"The interesting question is how will the court characterize (Fung's
arguments), because the broader legal implications for copyright and
for many parties - search engines and the like - could be affected by
the outcome of this case."
Fung said he might have to take down his site if the B.C. court case
goes against him. Donations from the site's users and advertising
revenue are paying his legal bills, he said.
"If we lost the case, it'd depend on what the judgment is. If it
involves damages we can't pay, then I'll have to shut down the site,"
he said.
Since this is news from Canada, it includes insightful comments by Prof. Geist:
"The interesting question is how will the court characterize (Fung's
[IsoHunt's owner] arguments), because the broader legal implications
for copyright and for many parties - search engines and the like -
could be affected by the outcome of this case."
From: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081105/technology/technology_music_copyright_battle
Canadian owner of popular downloading site seeks court ruling on its legality
Wed Nov 5, 4:11 PM
By Michael Oliveira, The Canadian Press
TORONTO - The Canadian owner of one of the Internet's most popular
sites for downloading everything from music to porn is pre-emptively
asking the Supreme Court of British Columbia to rule on whether he is
violating the Copyright Act.
Gary Fung, 25, of Richmond, B.C., runs the IsoHunt.com search engine
for BitTorrent files, which are commonly used to download and upload
virtually every type of copyrighted material, including music, movies,
computer software and e-books.
The site currently links to more than 1.5 million files online, such
as the latest chart-topping CDs, video games, DVDs and even movies
currently in theatres.
Isohunt.com regularly cracks the Top 200 list of the web's most
popular sites, according to analysts at Alexa.com.
"It serves a need that had not been served before, especially with the
emergence of BitTorrent becoming a dominant (downloading) protocol,"
Fung said of the site's popularity.
Fung has been named in a lawsuit launched in 2006 by the Motion
Picture Association of America.
After receiving letters last May from the Canadian Recording Industry
Association demanding he take down links to copyrighted material, Fung
decided he would ask the courts to rule on whether his site breaks
Canadian law.
"We filed the court documents because we were threatened by CRIA.
Essentially they're saying that all we do is infringe on their
clients' copyrights," he said.
The letters Fung received argued his site is "responsible for causing,
authorizing and contributing to a staggering amount of illegal music
downloading, uploading and file sharing."
The letters also state Fung could be responsible for copyright
infringement damages of up to $20,000 per song.
But Fung insists his search-engine website doesn't break any laws
since it simply links to copyrighted material online but doesn't host
any of it. He notes that Google can also be easily used to find
BitTorrent files.
"IsoHunt does not consider that its operations ... infringe or violate
in any way the Copyright Act and therefore seeks the protection of ...
(the B.C. court) in the form of declaratory relief in relation to
clarification of its legal rights in respect of its operation," Fung
states in his petition to the court.
IsoHunt.com has a policy of taking down links to files when contacted
by copyright owners and has removed more than 50,000 links since 2004,
Fung said.
It's similar to the policy that was imposed upon the makers of the
Napster downloading software when they were sued for copyright
infringement, Fung said.
He added that he invited CRIA to send in requests to remove links but
the association "has refused to do that."
CRIA said it would not comment on the case.
Michael Geist, a copyright expert at the University of Ottawa, said
IsoHunt.com's take-down policy is similar to what most BitTorrent
download sites do in an attempt to avoid legal action.
"Many, many sites argue that there's simply too much content posted
(on their sites) to actively monitor so they're entitled to presume
their service is being used lawfully" until a copyright holder
complains, he said.
"And that's when their potential liability kicks in if they take no
steps to address it."
The case could have a broad impact and affect a variety of Canadian
websites, and not just BitTorrent download sites, Geist said.
"The interesting question is how will the court characterize (Fung's
arguments), because the broader legal implications for copyright and
for many parties - search engines and the like - could be affected by
the outcome of this case."
Fung said he might have to take down his site if the B.C. court case
goes against him. Donations from the site's users and advertising
revenue are paying his legal bills, he said.
"If we lost the case, it'd depend on what the judgment is. If it
involves damages we can't pay, then I'll have to shut down the site,"
he said.
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