Background:
The plaintiff, Rossi, had owned and operated the website “internetmovies.com†since 1997. The site was described by the plaintiff as a magazine that provided links to other sites with information about movies. Starting in January 2001, Rossi began offering memberships to the site. Upon review by a member of the MPAA, links on Rossi’s site suggested that members were able to download copyrighted movies freely. The text found on the site included “Join to download full length movies online now! New movies every monthâ€; “Full Length Downloadable Moviesâ€; and “NOW DOWNLOADABLE.â€. In reaction, the MPAA sent Rossi a takedown notice under 512(c). After being informed that his site would be shut down by his ISP, Rossi proceeded to find another ISP to host his site.
Issues:
The takedown notice was filed under the “good faith belief†in U.S.C. 512 (c). The plaintiff does not dispute that the takedown notice fully complied with the statute. The plaintiff however did claim that the MPAA did not have “sufficient information†to file the takedown notice. The plaintiff argued that if the MPAA had actually investigated the site it would have found that no movies were available for download. Also, the site provided no links to any other site that allowed users to download movies.
The MPAA argued that the “sufficient information†is not defined as either subjective or objective in the statute. In that same line, the wording on the website itself could only lead one to belief that infringement was taking place.
Decision:
Decision ruled in favor of the MPAA. The court ruled that the MPAA followed 512(c) as accurately as possible. Rossi’s wording allowed the MPAA to draw a reasonable conclusion that a violation of copyright was taking place.
The plaintiff, Rossi, had owned and operated the website “internetmovies.com†since 1997. The site was described by the plaintiff as a magazine that provided links to other sites with information about movies. Starting in January 2001, Rossi began offering memberships to the site. Upon review by a member of the MPAA, links on Rossi’s site suggested that members were able to download copyrighted movies freely. The text found on the site included “Join to download full length movies online now! New movies every monthâ€; “Full Length Downloadable Moviesâ€; and “NOW DOWNLOADABLE.â€. In reaction, the MPAA sent Rossi a takedown notice under 512(c). After being informed that his site would be shut down by his ISP, Rossi proceeded to find another ISP to host his site.
Issues:
The takedown notice was filed under the “good faith belief†in U.S.C. 512 (c). The plaintiff does not dispute that the takedown notice fully complied with the statute. The plaintiff however did claim that the MPAA did not have “sufficient information†to file the takedown notice. The plaintiff argued that if the MPAA had actually investigated the site it would have found that no movies were available for download. Also, the site provided no links to any other site that allowed users to download movies.
The MPAA argued that the “sufficient information†is not defined as either subjective or objective in the statute. In that same line, the wording on the website itself could only lead one to belief that infringement was taking place.
Decision:
Decision ruled in favor of the MPAA. The court ruled that the MPAA followed 512(c) as accurately as possible. Rossi’s wording allowed the MPAA to draw a reasonable conclusion that a violation of copyright was taking place.