posted on February 13, 2001 07:05:07 AM new
I wonder if the recent Napster decision will have any effect on the eBay drones who knowingly allow copyright infringing materials to be sold on their venue, particularily this statement: "Because the company (Napster ... substitute eBay here) knew that copyrighted material was being exchanged, and on a huge level, it opened itself to legal liability, the court found."
posted on February 13, 2001 10:55:43 AM new
Well Napster tried to claim they were just a "venue" and lost. eBay claimed they were a "venue" and won. However, the appellate court narrowed the injunction od Napster to just infringement issues, which eBay may be under the same scrutiny for copyright.
The difference ? eBay is a billion dollar profitable concern, the plaintiffs in the Napster were billion dollar record companies, and the eBay case dealt with fraud rather than copyright infringement.
However, it would be interesting if we could get a split in the Federal Circuit Courts regarding this issue of online "venue" and the Supremes decide the outcome.
