Intellectual Property Liability of Consumers, Facilitators and Intermediaries

Institute of European Studies of Macau Series

With reports from all major jurisdictions where the responsibility of facilitators and intermediaries for copyright and trade mark infringement have been litigated, this very useful book is the first comprehensive global survey of the liability regime that intermediaries may face when assisting others to directly infringe copyright and trade mark rights, or when providing others with the means to do so. It addresses such issues as the following:

• ISP liability;
• contributory and secondary liability for trade mark, copyright, and patent infringement;
• time- and geo-shifting devices and services;
• consumer identification through dynamic IP addresses;
• infringements committed on a “commercial scale”;
• liability of hosting providers;
• requirements for a breach of duty of care;
• notice to users to refrain from infringements;
• filters and other due diligence measures;
• “actual knowledge”;
• privacy and infringers’ personal data;
• file sharing services;
• online storage services; and
• liability of transporters and freighters.

After a general introduction analysing relevant aspects of trade mark and copyright law, local experts provide detailed reports on positions in the EU (at the Community level), Germany, France, Italy, The United States, Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. As well as dealing with the issues, each report pays close attention to case law, legislative developments, and procedural issues of injunctive relief and damages. A final chapter covers comparative contributory patent infringement. Along with the very practical value the book offers corporate counsel charged with IP rights litigation, the authors shed light on the fundamental issue of whether attempts to broaden liability in this area are compatible with established IP principles such as territoriality, freedom to operate, and freedom of competition. As a result, the book will be welcomed by a wide spectrum of lawyers and others working in this rapidly growing field, including practitioners, policymakers, academics, and jurists.