#CRC12 Paper: Chapter 6 – Intermediaries
Chapter 6 of the Copyright Review Committee‘s Consultation Paper considers whether the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000 (also here) creates barriers to innovation by online intermediaries. Intermediaries run up against the copyright interests of rights-holders in several ways: they may be primarily liable for breach of copyright where their own activities infringe copyright; and they may be secondarily liable for breach of copyright where the activities of their users infringe copyright (update: you can download a pdf of the Paper here (via DJEI) or here (from this site)).
First, the most likely way that intermediaries may be primarily liable for breach of copyright is where the technological processes of transmitting data result in transient and incidental copies of the data. Article 5(1) of the European Union Copyright Directive provides a defence in such circumstances which has been transposed into Irish law by section 87(1) and 244(1) of the 2000 Act; and the Paper considers this transposition.
Second, the most likely way in which intermediaries may be secondarily liable for breach of copyright is where the activities of their users infringe copyright; Irish law, implementing a European Directive, now provides for some immunities in certain circumstances from such secondary liability; and the Paper considers this transposition.…