Online service provider law
Encyclopedia
Online service provider
law is a summary and case law tracking page for laws, legal decisions and issues relating to online service providers, like the Wikipedia and internet service provider
s, from the viewpoint of an OSP considering its liability and customer service issues. See Cyber law for broader coverage of the law of cyberspace.
Immunity under Section 230 requires that: (1) the defendant is a provider or user of an interactive computer service; (2) the cause of action treat the defendant as a publisher or speaker of information; and (3) the information at issue be provided by another information content provider. Zeran, 129 F.3d at 330. Even completely ignoring a complaint has generally been found not to garner liability, so protection appears to be very comprehensive, though it still doesn't stop people from trying.
In 2002, the California Court of Appeal held that CDA Section 230 does not apply to distributor liability, meaning that a defendant who had notice of a defamatory statement must stop publishing it or face liability. Barrett v. Rosenthal
, 114 Cal. App.4th 1379 (2002). The California Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision overturned, holding that Rosenthal was a "user of interactive computer services" and therefore immune from liability under Section 230. See also Grace v. eBay, Inc., 2004 WL 1632047 (Cal. Ct. App. Jul. 22, 2004) (no immunity against liability for a distributor of information who knew or had reason to know that the information was defamatory). Grace v. eBay was resolved without an opinion. The lower courts in Grace and Barrett had reached opposite conclusions when they were appealed to the California Supreme Court. In taking these cases, it was deciding to uphold or reverse Blumenthal v. AOL. Blumenthal, noted the conference report
comment that the clear intent of the CDA was to overrule the state decision in Stratton-Oakmont v. Prodigy and opined that accepting distributor liability would expose them to liability that Congress had clearly intended to protect them from.
The CDA does not "limit or expand any law pertaining to intellectual property" 47 U.S.C. Section 230(e)(2); see also Gucci America, Inc. v. Hall & Associates, 135 F. Supp. 2d 409 (S.D.N.Y. 2001) (no immunity for contributory liability for trademark infringement); Perfect 10, Inc. v CCBill LLC (No. CV 02-7624 LGB) (C.D. Cal. 22 June 2004) (state right of publicity claim is not covered by Section 230); but see Carafano v. Metrosplash.com, Inc., 339 F.3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2003) (dismissing, inter alia, right of publicity claim under Section 230 without discussion).
Courts have not yet addressed whether a state law trade secret claim is a "law pertaining to intellectual property."
The OCILLA can provide a safe harbor for OSPs who comply with its requirements. As noted above, CDA Section 230 does not provide protection against a copyright claim.
If the OSP does not fall under OCILLA's safe harbor, it still may be protected. In Religious Technology Center v. Netcom On-Line Communication Services, Inc., 907 F. Supp. 1361 (N. D. Cal. 1995), an internet services provider who merely transmitted material that infringed the plaintiff’s copyright was held not liable. See also CoStar Group, Inc. v. LoopNet, Inc., 373 F.3d 544 (4th Cir., 2004) http://www.eff.org/legal/ISP_liability/CoStar_v_Loopnet/20040621CoStarOpinion.pdf
[1999] 4 All ER 342, [2001] QB 201 (QBD). An anonymous poster impersonated a doctor and posted a defamatory comments on a bulletin board. The posting remained online for several weeks even after the real doctor made requests to take it down. The issue was whether the service provider had "published" the posting. The Court held 'ISPs do not participate in the process of publication as such but merely act as facilitators...' However in Godfrey it was held that the ISP could be held liable at common law if it had been notified of a defamatory posting and was so rendered responsible for publication from that moment onwards.
In the later case of Bunt v. Tilley & Ors [2006] EWHC 407 (QB), concerned a claim for defamation against the ISPs who hosted websites containing defamatory material. The court found that the ISP were merely passive facilitators rather than actively procuring the commission of the tort like a publisher.
"1 Copyright and copyright works
(1) Copyright is a property right which subsists in accordance with this Part
in the following descriptions of work?
(a) original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works,
(b) sound recordings, films or broadcasts, and
(c) the typographical arrangement of published editions.
(2) In this Part "copyright work" means a work of any of those descriptions
in which copyright subsists.
(3) Copyright does not subsist in a work unless the requirements of this Part
with respect to qualification for copyright protection are met (see section 153
and the provisions referred to there)."
According to the UK Patent Office website, the definition of 'original' is the following:
"A work can only be original if it is the result of independent creative effort. It will not be original if it has been copied from something that already exists. If it is similar to something that already exists but there has been no copying from the existing work either directly or indirectly, then it may be original.
The term "original" also involves a test of substantiality - literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works will not be original if there has not been sufficient skill and labour expended in their creation. But, sometimes significant investment of resources without significant intellectual input can still count as sufficient skill and labour.
Ultimately, only the courts can decide whether something is original, but there is much case law indicating, for example, that names and titles do not have sufficient substantiality to be original and that, where an existing work is widely known, it will be difficult to convince a court that there has been no copying if your work is very similar or identical.
Sound recordings, films and published editions do not have to be original but they will not be new copyright works if they have been copied from existing sound recordings, films and published editions.
Broadcasts do not have to be original, but there will be no copyright, if, or to the extent that, they infringe copyright in another broadcast."
The other relevant portion of the Act in question is section 153:
"153 Qualification for copyright protection
(1) Copyright does not subsist in a work unless the qualification
requirements of this Chapter are satisfied as regards?
(a) the author (see section 154), or
(b) the country in which the work was first published (see section 155), or
(c) in the case of a broadcast, the country from which the broadcast
was made (see section 156).
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply in relation to Crown copyright or
Parliamentary copyright (see sections 163 to 166B) or to copyright subsisting
by virtue of section 168 (copyright of certain international organisations).
(3) If the qualification requirements of this Chapter, or section 163, 165 or
168, are once satisfied in respect of a work, copyright does not cease to
subsist by reason of any subsequent event."
This section controls the nationality and country of origin requirements for copyright. It is roughly comparable with US law, since both countries are signataries to the Berne Convention.
Major cases preceding the law include Niftyserve Case, in which a system operator/ moderator of an online forum was found to be liable for not removing a series of defamatory postings. The system operator was noy requested by the defamed participant to remove the content, but had the knowledge of the content. The court found it to be an important ground for the liability.
In Carter v. BC Federation of Foster Parents Association, 2004 BCSC 137, a case on a service provider's liability for an anonymous forum posting, the Court cited the US cases of Cubby v. Compuserve and Lunney v. Prodigy Services with approval for its editorial control test.
Where a defamatory statement is found a service provider may avail themselves to a defence of innocent dissemination
as set out in the English case of Vizetelly v. Mudie’s Select Library Ltd., [1900] 2 Q.B. 17.
Online service provider
An online service provider can for example be an internet service provider, email provider, news provider , entertainment provider , search, e-shopping site , e-finance or e-banking site, e-health site, e-government site, Wikipedia, Usenet...
law is a summary and case law tracking page for laws, legal decisions and issues relating to online service providers, like the Wikipedia and internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
s, from the viewpoint of an OSP considering its liability and customer service issues. See Cyber law for broader coverage of the law of cyberspace.
United States
The general liability risk within the United States is low but it's necessary to review the laws and decisions of all other countries because the extraterritorial application of laws to content hosted in the US is a significant concern.Libel, defamation
- 1991 Cubby v. CompuServeCubby v. CompuServeCubby, Inc. v. CompuServe Inc. was a 1991 court decision in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York which held that Internet service providers were subject to traditional defamation law for their hosted content...
http://www.epic.org/free_speech/cubby_v_compuserve.html held that CompuServeCompuServeCompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major player through the mid-1990s, when it was sidelined by the rise of services such as AOL with monthly subscriptions rather than hourly rates...
wasn't the publisher and granted summary judgment in its favor. - May 1995 Stratton Oakmont, Inc. v. Prodigy Services Co.Stratton Oakmont, Inc. v. Prodigy Services Co.Stratton Oakmont, Inc. v. Prodigy Services Co., 1995 WL 323710 , was a controversial 1995 U.S. New York Supreme Court decision which found that online service providers could be held liable for the speech of their users.-Facts:...
http://www.eff.org/Legal/Cases/Stratton_Oakmont_Porush_v_Prodigy/ decision which held that Prodigy was the publisher, because it could delete messages. - 1996 Section 230 of the Communications Decency ActCommunications Decency ActThe Communications Decency Act of 1996 was the first notable attempt by the United States Congress to regulate pornographic material on the Internet. In 1997, in the landmark cyberlaw case of Reno v. ACLU, the United States Supreme Court struck the anti-indecency provisions of the Act.The Act was...
(CDA), which states in part that "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider". Note that this portion of the CDA was not struck down and remains law. - November 1997 Zeran v. AOL http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/4th/971523p.html The CDA protects AOL even though it repeatedly ignored a defamation complaint.
- April 1998 Blumenthal v. AOL (part of the case against Drudge and AOL) held that the CDA protects AOL for Drudge's writing that Blumenthal, an assistant to the US President, had a spousal abuse background (retracted in two days) even though it paid Drudge US$3,000 a month for his columns, had editorial control and might well have been liable if it was not an online publication http://www.techlawjournal.com/courts/drudge/80423opin.htm.
- Lunney v. Prodigy Services Co.Lunney v. Prodigy Services Co.Lunney v. Prodigy Services Co., 94 N.Y.2d 242 is a leading U.S. law case on liability of internet service providers for defamation. The court held that Prodigy, an internet chatroom provider, was not considered a publisher of defamatory material posted from an imposter account due to its passive...
94 N.Y.2d 242 (1999) held that internet chatroom provider was not considered a publisher of defamatory material posted from an impostor account due to Prodigy's passive role. - 2003 Carafano v. Metrosplash.comCarafano v. Metrosplash.comCarafano v. Metrosplash.com, Inc., 339 F.3d 1119 , is an American legal case dealing with the protection provided an internet service provider under the Communications Decency Act United States Code Title 47 section 230...
(the Star Trek actress case) http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0255658p.pdf. Providing multiple choice options in forms doesn't invalidate CDA immunity.
Immunity under Section 230 requires that: (1) the defendant is a provider or user of an interactive computer service; (2) the cause of action treat the defendant as a publisher or speaker of information; and (3) the information at issue be provided by another information content provider. Zeran, 129 F.3d at 330. Even completely ignoring a complaint has generally been found not to garner liability, so protection appears to be very comprehensive, though it still doesn't stop people from trying.
In 2002, the California Court of Appeal held that CDA Section 230 does not apply to distributor liability, meaning that a defendant who had notice of a defamatory statement must stop publishing it or face liability. Barrett v. Rosenthal
Barrett v. Rosenthal
Barrett v. Rosenthal is a 2006 California Supreme Court case concerning online defamation. The case resolved a defamation claim brought by Stephen Barrett, Terry Polevoy, and attorney Christopher Grell against women's health advocate Ilena Rosenthal and several others. Barrett and others alleged...
, 114 Cal. App.4th 1379 (2002). The California Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision overturned, holding that Rosenthal was a "user of interactive computer services" and therefore immune from liability under Section 230. See also Grace v. eBay, Inc., 2004 WL 1632047 (Cal. Ct. App. Jul. 22, 2004) (no immunity against liability for a distributor of information who knew or had reason to know that the information was defamatory). Grace v. eBay was resolved without an opinion. The lower courts in Grace and Barrett had reached opposite conclusions when they were appealed to the California Supreme Court. In taking these cases, it was deciding to uphold or reverse Blumenthal v. AOL. Blumenthal, noted the conference report
Conference report
In the United States Congress, a conference report refers to the final version of a bill that is negotiated between the House of Representatives and the Senate via conference committee. It is printed and submitted to each chamber for its consideration, such as approval or disapproval...
comment that the clear intent of the CDA was to overrule the state decision in Stratton-Oakmont v. Prodigy and opined that accepting distributor liability would expose them to liability that Congress had clearly intended to protect them from.
Patent, trademark, right of publicity, trade secret
- Communications Decency ActCommunications Decency ActThe Communications Decency Act of 1996 was the first notable attempt by the United States Congress to regulate pornographic material on the Internet. In 1997, in the landmark cyberlaw case of Reno v. ACLU, the United States Supreme Court struck the anti-indecency provisions of the Act.The Act was...
The CDA does not "limit or expand any law pertaining to intellectual property" 47 U.S.C. Section 230(e)(2); see also Gucci America, Inc. v. Hall & Associates, 135 F. Supp. 2d 409 (S.D.N.Y. 2001) (no immunity for contributory liability for trademark infringement); Perfect 10, Inc. v CCBill LLC (No. CV 02-7624 LGB) (C.D. Cal. 22 June 2004) (state right of publicity claim is not covered by Section 230); but see Carafano v. Metrosplash.com, Inc., 339 F.3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2003) (dismissing, inter alia, right of publicity claim under Section 230 without discussion).
Courts have not yet addressed whether a state law trade secret claim is a "law pertaining to intellectual property."
Copyright
- Communications Decency ActCommunications Decency ActThe Communications Decency Act of 1996 was the first notable attempt by the United States Congress to regulate pornographic material on the Internet. In 1997, in the landmark cyberlaw case of Reno v. ACLU, the United States Supreme Court struck the anti-indecency provisions of the Act.The Act was...
- Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation ActOnline Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation ActThe Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act is United States federal law that creates a conditional safe harbor for online service providers and other Internet intermediaries by shielding them for their own acts of direct copyright infringement as well as...
(part of the DMCA) - List of leading legal cases in copyright law
The OCILLA can provide a safe harbor for OSPs who comply with its requirements. As noted above, CDA Section 230 does not provide protection against a copyright claim.
If the OSP does not fall under OCILLA's safe harbor, it still may be protected. In Religious Technology Center v. Netcom On-Line Communication Services, Inc., 907 F. Supp. 1361 (N. D. Cal. 1995), an internet services provider who merely transmitted material that infringed the plaintiff’s copyright was held not liable. See also CoStar Group, Inc. v. LoopNet, Inc., 373 F.3d 544 (4th Cir., 2004) http://www.eff.org/legal/ISP_liability/CoStar_v_Loopnet/20040621CoStarOpinion.pdf
Defamation
Gutnick v Dow Jones US publisher, liable in Australia under the relatively new lex loci delicti rule (where the harm happens).Copyright
Defamation
The first case considering online defamation was in Godfrey v. Demon Internet ServiceGodfrey v. Demon Internet Service
Godfrey v Demon Internet Service [2001] QB 201 was a landmark court case in the United Kingdom concerning online defamation and the liability of internet service providers.-Facts:...
[1999] 4 All ER 342, [2001] QB 201 (QBD). An anonymous poster impersonated a doctor and posted a defamatory comments on a bulletin board. The posting remained online for several weeks even after the real doctor made requests to take it down. The issue was whether the service provider had "published" the posting. The Court held 'ISPs do not participate in the process of publication as such but merely act as facilitators...' However in Godfrey it was held that the ISP could be held liable at common law if it had been notified of a defamatory posting and was so rendered responsible for publication from that moment onwards.
In the later case of Bunt v. Tilley & Ors [2006] EWHC 407 (QB), concerned a claim for defamation against the ISPs who hosted websites containing defamatory material. The court found that the ISP were merely passive facilitators rather than actively procuring the commission of the tort like a publisher.
Copyright
According to section 1 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, a work is eligible for copyright protection if it is:"1 Copyright and copyright works
(1) Copyright is a property right which subsists in accordance with this Part
in the following descriptions of work?
(a) original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works,
(b) sound recordings, films or broadcasts, and
(c) the typographical arrangement of published editions.
(2) In this Part "copyright work" means a work of any of those descriptions
in which copyright subsists.
(3) Copyright does not subsist in a work unless the requirements of this Part
with respect to qualification for copyright protection are met (see section 153
and the provisions referred to there)."
According to the UK Patent Office website, the definition of 'original' is the following:
"A work can only be original if it is the result of independent creative effort. It will not be original if it has been copied from something that already exists. If it is similar to something that already exists but there has been no copying from the existing work either directly or indirectly, then it may be original.
The term "original" also involves a test of substantiality - literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works will not be original if there has not been sufficient skill and labour expended in their creation. But, sometimes significant investment of resources without significant intellectual input can still count as sufficient skill and labour.
Ultimately, only the courts can decide whether something is original, but there is much case law indicating, for example, that names and titles do not have sufficient substantiality to be original and that, where an existing work is widely known, it will be difficult to convince a court that there has been no copying if your work is very similar or identical.
Sound recordings, films and published editions do not have to be original but they will not be new copyright works if they have been copied from existing sound recordings, films and published editions.
Broadcasts do not have to be original, but there will be no copyright, if, or to the extent that, they infringe copyright in another broadcast."
The other relevant portion of the Act in question is section 153:
"153 Qualification for copyright protection
(1) Copyright does not subsist in a work unless the qualification
requirements of this Chapter are satisfied as regards?
(a) the author (see section 154), or
(b) the country in which the work was first published (see section 155), or
(c) in the case of a broadcast, the country from which the broadcast
was made (see section 156).
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply in relation to Crown copyright or
Parliamentary copyright (see sections 163 to 166B) or to copyright subsisting
by virtue of section 168 (copyright of certain international organisations).
(3) If the qualification requirements of this Chapter, or section 163, 165 or
168, are once satisfied in respect of a work, copyright does not cease to
subsist by reason of any subsequent event."
This section controls the nationality and country of origin requirements for copyright. It is roughly comparable with US law, since both countries are signataries to the Berne Convention.
Crown copyright
Photographs created before 1 June 1957 have a 50 year copyright period, as do other works except engravings. Photographs published before August 1989 also have a 50 year copyright period.- flowchart for determining Crown Copyright status of literary, dramatic and musical works (PDF)
- flowchart for determining Crown Copyright status of artistic works (PDF)
Japan
On 27 May 2002, so-called Provider Liability Limitation Law (プロバイダ責任法 or プロバイダ責任制限法) was enacted. It is said that the major purpose of the law is to limit the liability of ISPs, administrators and system operators of bulletin boards, hosting services, and others. The law covers copyright violation, defamation, and obscenity among other things. Regarding those contents that have to be removed, the law holds that the service providers cannot be held liable unless 1) they have the technological means to remove the content and either 2-a) they have the knowledge of the illegal content or 2-b) they could reasonably have gotten to know it. It also specifies circumstances under which service providers may offer personal information of a user to another.Major cases preceding the law include Niftyserve Case, in which a system operator/ moderator of an online forum was found to be liable for not removing a series of defamatory postings. The system operator was noy requested by the defamed participant to remove the content, but had the knowledge of the content. The court found it to be an important ground for the liability.
Canada
In Canada there is no legislation addressing liability for online service providers and few cases.In Carter v. BC Federation of Foster Parents Association, 2004 BCSC 137, a case on a service provider's liability for an anonymous forum posting, the Court cited the US cases of Cubby v. Compuserve and Lunney v. Prodigy Services with approval for its editorial control test.
Where a defamatory statement is found a service provider may avail themselves to a defence of innocent dissemination
Innocent dissemination
A person who is found to have published a defamatory statement may evoke a defence of innocent dissemination, which absolves him/her of liability provided that he/she had no knowledge of the defamatory nature of the statement, and that his/her failure to detect the defamatory content was not due to...
as set out in the English case of Vizetelly v. Mudie’s Select Library Ltd., [1900] 2 Q.B. 17.
Copyright
- copyright outside the UK has some guidance.
- Bromberg Sunstein guidance on international copyright (archiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
link, was dead) - ISP Liability in the Russian Federation, see: Stefan Labesius, Kontent i Pravo v. Masterhost, Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, Judgment of 23 December 2008, Nr. 10962/08, Translation and Comment, 1 (2010) JIPITEC 179, para. 1
External links
- EFF ISP Liability page, further information on ISP liability for third-party content/conduct
- AOL Legal, a useful law resource
- ISP Law, Netlitigation's overview and case law archive
- AOL Postmaster, description of AOL's email policies, of use for identifying some anti-spam techniques as normal.
- Deterbide, "Liability of Internet Service Providers for Defamation in the US and Britain" JILT 2000