Re: droit de suite

On Mon, 10 Apr 2000, Eric Eldred <eldred[_at_]eldritchpress.org> wrote, in part:
>
> the No Electronic Theft Act of 1997 ... criminalizes even giving
> away copyrighted works, if they are published on the WWW.

Only if at least 10 copies of one or more works with an aggregate value of $2500 or more are distributed within a single 180-day period. A low threshold, but not one that seems likely to be met by the classroom example you gave.

> So in the normal case of innocent infringement, instead of having
> this settled by letters from lawyers, some people go to jail, when
> the work is on the web.

I'd be interested in knowing of any instance in which an "innocent" infringer went to jail. In the first place, "innocent infringement" is a defense to liability in a civil copyright infringement action, and relates to whether the infringer knew or should have known that the work was protected by copyright. I seriously doubt that such a defense would fly in a criminal copyright infringement case brought under the NET Act.

> Robert C. Cumbow
> Graham & Dunn, P.C.
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> E-mail: rcumbow[_at_]grahamdunn.com
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>

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