Filesharing - Legal Implications

Filesharing: Legal Implications

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Peer to peer filesharing has become an accepted part of daily life. Billions of music files are swapped this way every month world wide with many users not understanding the legal implications that go along with downloading files this way. (www.msu.edu)

Many filesharing applications are not offering music legally. This means that the record labels and artists who own the songs are not getting any money for their property. Many legal implications arise from the using and operating of such file downloading sites.

Every country around the world has copyright laws to protect intellectual property and some countries have more laws than others. The US has much tighter copyright laws than other regions due to the large entertainment industry that the States house.

Copyright laws for Australia aim at protecting the owner of the intellectual property. In 2002 an amendment was made to address file sharing. Copyright.com says of the amendment, “The objects set out in s 3 of the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000 state parliament's intention to balance these competing needs. The types of issues which can arise can be illustrated by two of the emerging problems: “peer to peer� file sharing and downloading of mobile phone “ring tones�.� (Copyright Bill 1999 p17)

The amendments to the copyright laws aims are as follows:

• To improve the protection for owners of copyright in relation to the use of their copyright material on the Internet and through other new communications technologies such as pay-TV, in order to reward creative endeavour and encourage further creative endeavours;

• To fashion the improved copyright protection in the online environment so as to facilitate the growth of the information economy;

• To ensure that users of copyright material, particularly libraries, archives and educational institutions have reasonable access to copyright material in the online environment;

• To replace technology-specific rights with technology-neutral rights so that amendments to the Act are not needed each time there is a development in technology;

• To ensure the copyright laws do not jeopardise the underlying technical processes that are integral to the operation of the Internet such as certain kinds of caching;

• To ensure that copyright law provides carriers and carriage service providers (including ISPs) with reasonable certainty about liability for infringements that occur on their facilities or infrastructure; and

• To ensure that the proposed reforms are consistent with the new international obligations in the WIPO Copyright Treaty and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty in relation to the digital agenda.

The entertainment industries are punishing users of the applications and universities are often given lists with student names who have broken these copyright laws. The universities must then act upon this information. (www.caslon.com)

REFERENCES:

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Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Bill. (1999) House of Representatives. Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. Canberra: Australia.

Intellectual Property Guide: Online music. (2001) Online Music. Available: www.caslon.com.au/ipguide15.htm. [Accessed 26 October 2004]

Michigan State University. (2004) You downloaded what? Available: http://newsroom.msu.edu/site.indexer/1648/content.htm. [accessed 25 October 2004]