Changes in law are driven by widespread changes in the conditions of economic exchange, in available technology, in accepted morality, and, just maybe, in human nature.  The liability of internet service providers (ISPs) for copyright infringements by ISP customers is a small, intriguing – and unfinished – story of such legal development.  In the period 1998 – 2004, the issue seemed to become settled – with legislatures around the world giving mainstream ISPs substantial protection from secondary liability for copyright infringements by Internet users.

But there are now shifts in the terrain – and those of us who thought the issue was largely settled may have been quite wrong.  More and more, courts and legislators are calling on ISPs to have greater responsibility for copyright infringement by customers.  In this talk, Professor Hughes explores the reassessment of ISP liability that is occurring on a variety of fronts, explaining how the resulting instability is the result of technological advances and changing business models; how some of these advances have decoupled policy considerations concerning copyright liability from other kinds of liability, particularly for defamation; and how this form of copyright liability moved from a knowledge standard to an intent standard, and may be moving now from these fault-based standards to mechanistic, regulatory standards of responsibility more familiar to areas like banking law and general tort theory than intellectual property.

Speakers

• Professor Justin Hughes, Cardozo Law School
• Chair: Michael Handler, University of New South Wales
  

Justin Hughes teaches intellectual property, international trade, and internet law at Cardozo Law School, where students selected him for best professor awards in 2000 and 2006. He was Director of the law school's Intellectual Property Program from 2004 through 2008. From 1997 to 2001, Professor Hughes did policy work at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), focusing on the Administration's initiatives in Internet-related intellectual property as well as intellectual property law in developing economies. He is the author of several articles on intellectual property, internet law, international arbitration, and linguistics.

When:  27 August 2009, 6:00pm presentation, followed by drinks at about 7:00pm (registration from 5:30pm)

Where: Copyright Agency Limited, Level 15, 233 Castlereagh Street, Sydney

Cost: $45 (members of CSA); $70 (non-members); $10 (full-time students) (prices include GST)

How to book:

• book online at the Copyright Council's online shop, or
• download a booking form, or
• email us.