I have had a chance to review my files and I came up with the
following list of copyright infringement "incidents" in
cyberspace. Not all of these sites necessarily shut down, nor are
all of these sites Internet accessible. Also, some involve
piracy, probably not the thrust of your interest, but raise some
interesting issues.
- In 1990, Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute stopped receiving
alt.sex.pictures (obstensibly) because of the fear of copyright
infringement [Rick Karlin, Trouble on the Electronic Frontier,
Times Union (Ala), 6/2/91 at T6].
- In 1992, Playboy sued Event Horizons BBS, alleging that the
sysop scanned in and sold Playboy photos. [Lance Rose, Playboy's
New Playmate--Event Horizons BBS, Boardwatch, June, 1992]. I have
heard, thirdhand, that the case was settled.
- In February, 1993, the FBI shut down the Rusty & Edie's BBS for
"alleged software copyright violations," and the sysops were sued
for CRIMINAL copyright violations. [Michael A. Hobbs, ACLU Cries
Foul in Computer Raid, The Plain Dealer, 2/19/93 at 3B].
- In Playboy Enterprises v. Frena, 839 F. Supp. 1552 (M.D. Fla.
1993), Playboy sued sysop Frena and the Techs Warehouse BBS for
copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and unfair
competition because scanned in photos from Playboy were present on
the system. Even though the sysop argued the users had posted the
infringing photos, he was found liable on all counts.
- In Sega v. Maphia, 30 USPQ.2d 1921 (N.D. Cal. 1994), the BBS was
used to distribute pirated versions of Sega games. The sysop was
held liable for coypright infringement, trademark infringement,
and unfair competition.
- In US v. LaMacchia, the government is seeking a wire fraud
conviction against a sysop who helped himself to space on MIT's
computers and this space was used to trade pirated software.
LaMacchia's lawyers say that the federal government is using the
wire fraud claim to circumvent a Congressional decision that such
actions were not copyright violations. [E.g., Pamela Coyle, Techno
Trials, ABA Journal, 10/94 at 66].
- Paramount Studios complained that AOL was offering graphics and
sound from Star Trek for free. AOL removed all the files. [Paul
Karon, On-Line Services Push the Envelope on Copyright Issues, LA
Times, 5/4/94, at D4].
A good resource on this topic may be the Computers and Academic
Freedom ftp site. I don't have their address offhand; contact
Kadie[_at_]eff.org. He keeps track of incidents where colleges and
universities have responded to various threats (including
copyright liability) by circumscribing academic freedom (i.e.,
shutting down sites).
I hope this helps.
Eric Schlachter, Esq.
schlachtere[_at_]cgc.com
Received on Thu Dec 08 1994 - 02:01:27 GMT