Copyright Enforcement and the Internet

Although copyright enforcement has always been a controversial issue, it took the advent of the Internet to raise a fundamental challenge to its very raison d’être. Legislative activity in this area during recent years clearly demonstrates the extent to which enforcement has been brought to the forefront of attention, as owners of copyrights find themselves trying to supersede the limitations of law in order to respond effectively to the reproductive power of new technologies. This timely collection of essays by European and international authorities in the field of copyright law presents a variety of valuable perspectives on the multitude of issues arising in respect of copyright enforcement on the Internet, including the following:

• the collection of evidence for allegation of infringement;
• identifying the infringer;
• jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments;
• liability of Internet service providers;
• balancing copyright, data protection, and privacy;
• considerations of social policy and human rights;
• cost and efficiency of data availability on the Internet;
• exchanges of information and mutual assistance among enforcement authorities;
• criminal liability on the Internet;
• combating piracy in the digital environment; and
• prospects for a common regulatory framework.

Most of the existing European Union and international policies are considered in some depth, and the authors also discuss a variety of national laws and initiatives, technical measures, and the soft law and hard law models that have been proposed. In the years to come, as more and more lawyers are confronted with issues involving copyright enforcement on the Internet, this book’s value as a springboard to the informed future development of this area of legal theory and practice will become more evident. For this reason, as well as for its richly detailed treatment of trends and current reality in the field, it is sure to be read and put to good use by business people, international lawyers, government officials, and interested academics in all parts of the world.