eBay has won a lawsuit this Thursday. A documentary maker had suid them because they refused to take down one of his DVD's and videotape that where sold pirated on the internet auction site.
The man refused to sign a written statement that eBay uses for copyright infrigement. Signing just this statement would have made eBay take down the auction.
The judge in the eBay case said it was the first to test whether a Web site has a "safe harbor" if people use the site to sell items that infringe on copyrights. |
Robert Hendrickson sued eBay in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles last year after the Internet company would not take down DVDs and videotapes of his 1972 documentary "Manson" that were being offered for sale. Hendrickson said the DVDs and tapes were pirated.
eBay asked Hendrickson to submit a sworn, written statement detailing his claim through its Verified Rights Owner Program, which lets copyright holders request that eBay remove an infringing item. Hendrickson refused, saying his general complaints should have been good enough.
The lawsuit also made clear that eBay is a provider and can not be held responsible for the goods that are auctioned on their site.
Very strange as Napster was held liable for the MP3's traded on their network/trough their servers.
Source: Cnet.com
