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ADVANCED COPYRIGHT ISSUES
ON THE INTERNET
David L. Hayes, Esq.*
FENWICK & WEST LLP
(updated versions of this work are regularly made available online at no charge at
https://www.fenwick.com/insights/publications/advanced-copyright-issues-on-the-internet)
* Partner and past Chairman of the Intellectual Property Practice Group, Fenwick & West LLP, Mou ntain View
& San Francisco, California. B.S.E.E. (Su mma Cum Laude), Rice University (1978); M.S.E.E., Stanford
University (1980); J.D. (Cum Laude), Harvard Law School (1984). An early version of this work appeared in
David L. Hayes, “Advanced Copyright Issues on the Internet,” 7 Tex. Intell. Prop. L.J. 1 (Fall 1998). The
author expresses appreciation to Matthew Becker for significant contributions to Section III.E (“Streaming and
Downloading”).
© 1997-2020 David L. Hayes. All Rights Reserved.
(Updated through April 2020)
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I. INTRODUCTION 19
II. RIGHTS IMPLICATED BY TRANSMISSION AND USE OF WORKS ON THE
INTERNET 20
A. The Right of Reproduction 20
1. The Ubiquitous Nature of “Copies” on the Internet 21
2. Whether Images of Data Stored in RAM Qualify as “Copies” 21
3. The WIPO Treaties & the European Copyright Directive Are Unclear With
Respect to Interim “Copies” 29
(a) Introduction to the WIPO Treaties & the European Copyright
Directive 29
(b) The WIPO Copyright Treaty 31
(c) The WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty 34
4. The Requirement of Volition for Direct Liability 36
(a) The Netcom Case 37
(b) The MAPHIA Case 39
(c) The Sabella Case 40
(d) The Frena Case 41
(e) The Webbworld Case 42
(f) The Sanfilippo Case 43
(g) The Free Republic Case 44
(h) The MP3.com Cases 46
(i) The CoStar Case 49
(j) The Ellison Case 50
(k) Perfect 10 v. Cybernet Ventures 50
(l) Field v. Google 51
(m) Parker v. Google 52
(n) The Cablevision Case 52
(o) Arista Records v. Usenet.com 56
(p) Quantum Systems v. Sprint Nextel 56
(q) Arista Records v. Myxer 57
(r) Disney Enterprises v. Hotfile 58
(s) Perfect 10 v. Megaupload 60
(t) Wolk v. Kodak Imaging Network 61
(u) Fox Broadcasting v. Dish Network 61
(v) Perfect 10 v. Giganews 72
(w) Capitol Records v. ReDigi 78
(x) Hearst Stations v. Aereo 80
(y) In Re Autohop Litigation (Dish Network v. American Broadcasting) 80
(z) Oppenheimer v. Allvoices 82
(aa) The Supreme Court’s Aereo Decision 82
(bb) Gardner v. CafePress 83
(cc) Rosen v. eBay 84
(dd) BWP Media v. T&S Software 84
(ee) Summary of Case Law 86
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5. The Reproduction Right Under WIPO Implementing Legislation 87
(a) United States Legislation 87
(1) The Digital Millennium Copyright Act 87
(2) Legislation Not Adopted 88
(b) The European Copyright Directive 89
6. Peer-to-Peer File Sharing 94
(a) BMG Music v. Gonzalez 94
(b) Columbia Pictures v. Bunnell 95
(c) Sony BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum 96
(d) Capitol Records v. Thomas-Rasset 100
7. The Immunity of the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) 103
(a) The Diamond Multimedia Case 104
(b) The Napster Cases 104
(c) The Aimster Case 104
(d) Atlantic Recording Corp. v. XM Satellite Radio 105
8. Fair Use Cases 107
(a) Fox News v. TVEyes 107
B. The Right of Public Performance 114
1. Isochronous Versus Asynchronous Transmissions 115
2. The Meaning of “Publicly” 116
3. Live Nation Motor Sports v. Davis 116
4. United States v. ASCAP 117
5. The Cablevision Case 119
6. Ringtones – In re Application of Cellco Partnership 120
7. Arista Records v. Myxer 122
8. Warner Bros. v. WTV Systems 122
9. Capitol Records v. MP3tunes 125
10. American Broadcasting v. Aereo 126
11. The BarryDriller Case 141
12. Fox v. FilmOn 143
13. Hearst Stations v. Aereo 147
14. Community Television of Utah v. Aereo 149
15. CBS v. FilmOn 151
16. Capitol Records v. Escape Media 152
17. Fox Broadcasting v. Dish Network 152
18. Disney Enterprises v. VidAngel 154
19. Spanski Enterprises v. Telewizja Polska 155
C. The Right of Public Display 157
1. The Frena, Marobie-FL, Hardenburgh and Webbworld Cases 157
2. Kelly v. Arriba Soft 159
3. Ticketmaster v. Tickets.com 162
4. Perfect 10 v. Google (aka Perfect 10 v. Amazon) 162
5. Healthcare Advocates, Inc. v. Harding, Earley, Follmer & Frailey 174
6. ICG-Internet Commerce Group, Inc. v. Wolf 176
