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Technology Stocks : TTRE (TTR Incorporated) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (553)	5/30/2003 4:04:29 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 609

Copyright Holders Can Shut Down Websites Without Investigation, Court Rules, by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York 30 May 2003 In a statement released this week, online film distribution site, InternetMovies.com warned of the potential consequences of certain provisions contained within the US Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), which all but remove the rights of defendants in copyright infringement cases. On April 29, the US District Court for the District of Hawaii ruled against the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which had wrongfully accused InternetMovies.com of distributing unauthorised copies of copyrighted films, and forced the temporary shutdown of the website. However, the court also ruled that if a copyright holder has the 'good faith belief' that their rights are being infringed, they need not conduct an investigation before taking action against the accused. Following the verdict the MPAA offered the website's owner, Michael J. Rossi, a settlement agreement if he would waive the right to appeal. However, he refused, and will be appealing the decision with the US Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit: 'contending that unless a requirement of a reasonable investigation prior to shutting down a website is read into the DMCA, the DMCA would alter the usual legal relationship of the parties in favor of the copyright holder, providing little or no recourse to the person or business wrongfully accused of violating copyright laws,' according to the statement. The InternetMovies.com statement went on to suggest that the Hawaii court's ruling has serious implications for university campuses, as copyright holders would effectively be able to shut down entire university networks without investigation if a student is suspected of an infringement. A comprehensive report in our tax shelters series describing tax-effective regimes for film production in a number of key countries is available in the Tax News Reports Shop at tax-news.com