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This article explores the connection between maritime and digital piracy, and pursues the thought that the common moniker is more than a rhetorical flourish. Golden Age maritime piracy (1650–1730) and today's piracy in cyberspace are by no means identical; there is no one ideal form of piracy. And yet, pirates of the literal and virtual high seas share a crucial feature: their social role as others. Piracy itself is a social function; its content is otherness. Dominant accounts of piracy note its character as a mode of resistance, but frame that resistance as either economic or political. Neither of these explanations of piracy's resistance is sufficient on its own. The comparison of Golden Age maritime piracy with current digital piracy is telling, because what these two modes of piracy have in common is the way they highlight the relationship between capital and the state system. In other words, piracy's political attack is not simply an assault on the idea of sovereignty, but rather a more specific critique of the way the system of sovereign states advances the interests of capital. The legal treatment of piracy, making it the pillar of universal jurisdiction, highlights the particular threat that piracy presents to the world order: the crime is political because it is an affront to the economic-political alliance that is capitalism, old or new. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In May 2011, the PROTECT Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) was introduced to the United States Senate boasting 31 sponsors from both the Democratic and Republican Party. By January 2012 PIPA, along with counterpart in the House of Representatives known as the Stop Online Piracy Act was indefinitely shelved. Many have attributed this dramatic shift to the widespread backlash against the bills from online activists. The case thus suggests that the Internet has emerged as a powerful tool in allowing ordinary citizens to displace the entrenched power of special interests groups. However, given the role of activists and their rhetorical framing strategies in the defeat of the bills, the case also has theoretical implications for historical institutionalism. Namely, how can historical institutionalism, which favours institutions over agency, especially when explaining continuity, account for this? Can historical institutionalism account for agency, institutions, continuity and change in a unified way? This article responds in two ways. First, it argues that internet companies, not activists, were crucial in explaining the defeat of the bills. Second, it argues, it proposes a unified historical institutionalist approach to research, capable of explaining agency within institutions in institutional continuity and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the proposed introduction in EU law of an obligation for hosting providers to conclude licencing agreements with copyright holders and ensure they are taking effective technological measures, such as Content ID technologies, to prevent copyright infringement on online platforms. This proposal is included in Article 13 and accompanying Recitals of the European Commission's Draft Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market of September 14, 2016, which forms an important part of the ongoing EU copyright reform. This article highlights the shortcomings of this proposed reform, which may fall short in terms of clarity, consistency with the EU acquis, appropriacy and proportionality. In doing so, the article discusses recent CJEU case law, such as GSMedia, Ziggo and Filmspeler, which all struggle with the notion of communication to the public in the digital environment. The case law highlights systemic inconsistencies between the traditional knowledge-and-take-down, negligence-based intermediary liability system and the introduction of filtering and monitoring obligations. The article examines the appropriacy of filtering and monitoring measures within a fundamental rights perspective by considering proportionality between property rights ' enforcement and competing fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, and freedom of business and privacy. The critical review of the proposed reform serves as an opportunity to briefly advance an alternative proposal seeking a more pragmatic engagement with technological change through an arrangement enforcing a liability rule or an apportionment of profits and producing value for creators out of platform economy's virality, while limiting negative externalities on users ' rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a pirated version of a copyrighted work is shared over the Internet, many online intermediaries may participate, exposing these firms to liability through legal concepts such as direct, contributory and vicarious infringement. Safe harbors largely shield intermediaries from "crippling liability" in return for cooperative action on infringing materials. Yet, digital piracy remains a problem. In this paper, we offer a simple economic model of safe harbor protection, demonstrating that de minimis liability for these platforms promotes infringing platforms to the detriment of responsible ones. Increasing the risk of liability for infringement results in a "separating equilibrium," with one platform offering only legitimate and high-value content and another offering a combination of illegitimate and low-value content. Effective platform liability should ultimately change the structure of the platform industry, which we believe should improve enforcement of copyright law. Legal changes similar to those prescribed here were recently been proposed in the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report analyzes how the Russian courts apply the digital anti-piracy law through blocking websites and how this law made a difference in the digital content industry in Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Should rights be publicly or privately enforced in the case of digital piracy? The emergence of large-scale anti-piracy laws and the existence of illegal non-monitored channels raise important issues for the design of anti-piracy policies. We study the impact of these demand-side policies in two enforcement settings (namely, public and private enforcement settings) with an outside adoption option for users of an illegal non-monitored channel. Our results show that public enforcement generates higher monitoring and lower price levels, and also higher legal welfare than private enforcement. However, we identify potential conflicts of interest between the legal seller and the social planner when the efficiency of the illegal non-monitored channel is low. Introducing supply-side policies, i.e. policies targeted to suppliers of illegal content, we find that they may have unexpected impacts and can damage legal welfare. We also identify situations in which the two policies are substitutes or complements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study that aims to understand how and to what extent digital mass media are emancipatory with a focus on social media. It cites the adoption of a case study approach which can be used for developing and testing theory and explores activities by the actors most visible in the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) discourse. It suggests that some inevitable evils accompany the societal benefits of social media and that mass media is having a detrimental effect on public discourse.

This article analyses Russia's new anti-piracy law aimed at improving online enforcement of copyright and related rights. The article places the new developments in the context of the prior intellectual property rights enforcement regime and Russia’s international and constitutional obligations to secure the right to freedom of expression. The author discusses and critically assesses the most important changes introduced by the new law, and draws conclusions about their correlation with freedom of expression, overall effectiveness and the impact on right holders, internet users and the internet industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on prevention of importation of counterfeit goods under the U.S Tariff Act and problems associated with online sale of counterfeit goods through electronic commerce website Etsy .Topics discussed include U.S trademark law relevant to counterfeiting and secondary infringement liability, the history of do it yourself (DIY) and method of three dimensional (3D) printing. It also mentions Online Piracy Act focused on online copyright infringement prevention.

The article look at the U.S. government policies related to freedom of internet users in the country, mentions the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) aimed to prevent illegal use of the internet, and discusses the laws that violet the First Amendment of the U.S. constitution.

This paper contends that protests against the Stop Online Piracy act in January 2012 were successful because of a unique connection of the legal structure of a policy controversy with the engineering of the code level of the Internet. To this end the paper proposes a critical aesthetic theory that distinguishes presentational and interactive elements of web programming as they contribute to the circulation of visual arguments on public screens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private ordering plays a significant role in the application of intellectual property laws, especially in the context of copyright law. In this Article, I highlight some of the dominant modes of private ordering and consider what formal copyright law should do, if anything, to engage with private ordering in the copyright space. I conclude that there is not one single approach that copyright law should take with regard to private ordering, but instead several different approaches. In some instances, the best option is for the law to get out of the way and simply continue to provide room for various approaches to flourish. In other contexts, the copyright statute should actively support private ordering efforts that may be jeopardized by the current regime. Private ordering may also highlight areas where the law is in need of reform. This is perhaps most noticeable in the context of fair use which has led to the proliferation of much of the private ordering. The combination of the unpredictability and expense of fair use litigation combined with potentially high statutory damages has created a series of risk-averse litigation-avoidance practices and an underutilization of fair use. Legislation may be necessary to prevent a lock-in effect of some of these industry practices and norms. In particular, courts should be barred from using these customs to set the boundaries of fair use. Revisions to the Copyright Act could also address some of the uncertainty surrounding fair use and facilitate the use of works in instances that we would like to encourage. In recent years, copyright holders have used technology and contracts to greatly limit what users can do with copyrighted works and even with uncopyrightable elements of those works. Revisions to copyright law should engage with these private efforts and protect a significant fair use zone. Copyright's private ordering also reveals some areas of agreement which merit codification, such as faculty ownership of course materials and scholarship. Copyright law does not operate in a vacuum and any major revisions to copyright law must take into consideration the practices that have developed in its wake. As we look forward to a Copyright Act for the twenty-first century, Congress must not only consider ways to limit online piracy, but also how to protect the public's vital space to engage with, comment on, and rework copyrighted material in light of the myriad practices that have developed in the shadow of the 1976 Act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the discussions on Internet mobilization and on international social movements’ ability to influence national policy. The event studied is the ‘first Internet strike’ of 18 January 2012 aimed against the SOPA legislation proposed in the USA. Wikipedia’s volunteer editors from all around the world took part in the vote concerning whether Wikipedia should undertake a protest action aimed at influencing American policymakers. Wikipedia editors are shown to share values of the international free culture movement, though experienced editors were also likely to be conflicted about whether taking part in a protest action was not violating the site’s principle of encyclopedic neutrality. Further, Wikipedia’s participation in this protest action allowed non-US citizens to have a visible impact on the US national legislation. As such, Wikipedia can be seen as an international social movement organization, whose 24 hour-long blackout of its popular website was a major factor in the success of the anti-SOPA protests. Wikipedia’s blackout was an expression of an international political opportunity structure in the form of worldwide awareness and protests, which in turn enabled a national political opportunity structure by informing and mobilizing American citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the problems facing intellectual property (IP) law in the modern context and some of the international efforts to combat these problems. It mentions that three attempts to initiate new IP law including international Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act and Canada's Bill C-ll. Also mentioned is the efforts to create workable IP laws and suggest to continue the conversation and the substance to include in any legislation.

The article focuses on the aspects of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) as alternative dispute resolution mechanisms that were introduced by the U.S. government to combat foreign online piracy issues. Topics discussed include role of SOPA and PIPA in protecting online intellectual property and online content, historical aspects of arbitration in resolving intellectual property disputes, and comparison of SOPA and PIPA with international arbitration process.

The article discusses a U.S. copyright law-related fair use analysis requirement in the context of the purpose of America's Digital Millennium Copyright Act, focusing on takedown notices and the potential effect of such a requirement on copyright holders' abilities to respond to incidents involving Internet-related copyright infringement and piracy. Misrepresentation claims, freedom of speech in the U.S., and legal cases involving parties such as Universal Music Corp. are examined.

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An essay is presented on the impact of technological advances on the development of intellectual property (IP) laws, focusing on various IP-related issues such as the U.S. Congress' rejection of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) legislative bill, as well as the impact of standard essential patents (SEPs) on competition between companies. A speech, which was presented at the Fordham Intellectual Property Law Institute's Twentieth Annual Conference on April 13, 2012, is referenced.

Purpose -- In this chapter, I explore the graduated response approach to combatting online piracy, and examine the different ways in which this approach has been implemented in the United States and around the world. Design/methodology/approach -- I discuss the legal, political, and industrial origins and current state of the graduated response programs in each country. Findings -- Overall, the most successfully launched graduated response programs have been the ones where a single entity is overseeing the program implementation, and the code of conduct has been well articulated. Originality/value of chapter -- Few scholars have examined the processes leading up to the implementation of graduated response programs and the mechanics of how they work in practice. This chapter does this by looking, chronologically, at the developments in each country as well as the choreography of its notice process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the litigations regarding internet copyright infringement filed by the adult film industry in Illinois by referring to Joinder v. Reverse Class Action case. It states that the industry has initiated suits against internet protocol (IP) addresses identification which provides the get rich quick scheme for lawyers. It also discusses the applicability of Rule 11 challenges regarding filings including coercing settlement, nuisance settlements, and abusing judicial process.

The article discusses copyright enforcement and the electronic monitoring of copyrighted works in the wake of the Court of Justice of the European Union's (EU) rulings in the cases Scarlet v. Sabam and Netlog v. Sabam which deal with Internet piracy and privacy laws. Potential liability for copyright infringement is examined in relation to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and online social networks. The author argues that the right to intellectual property is a fundamental right in the EU.

This essay is a critique of immaterial and affective labor, cognitive capitalism and other terms that have been theorized by postautonomous thinkers such as Antonio Negri, Michael Hardt, Maurizzio Lazzarato, and others. According to these thinkers, under the new wave of financial capitalism, labor has become immaterial and capitalism has become more dependent on cognitive processes in order to enclose external labor and material and symbolic commons. In order to test the validity of these ideas, this essay analyzes the science fiction film "Sleep Dealer" (2008) by Alex Rivera and the debates triggered by the passing of the so-called Ley Sinde in Spain. The analysis of these seemingly disparate critical terrains reveals a more nuanced picture, one that points to the interdependence of material and immaterial labor, and the need of a less abstract and more intersectional theorization of the commons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the copyright law policymaking process in the U.S. as of July 2012, focusing on an analysis of the closed international process which produced the multinational treaty known as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), as well as the open domestic process which produced the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) legislative bills in the U.S. All three pieces of legislation reportedly contain copyright enforcement measures to prevent Internet piracy.

The negotiations of the international Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement have been conducted largely in secret, elevating intellectual property piracy to the level of national security concerns for purposes of accessing information through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). However, the level of actual secrecy has been tiered, with corporate interests enjoying far more access to negotiation information than the general public. At the same time, similar intellectual property issues were negotiated in the relative transparency of Congress' debate over the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act, allowing for much greater public involvement. With national security concerns as the backdrop, the focus of this Article is the use of national security arguments to prevent the public, and more specifically, public experts (i.e., the "nerds') from accessing information through FOIA about the creation of international intellectual property law. The Article proposes ways to address the information failures existing in international intellectual property lawmaking and international lawmaking more generally from policy and, as introduced in this Article, theoretical perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the application of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to analog works and safeguards in the U.S. in light with the Murphy v. Millennium Radio Group case. It provides an overview of DMCA, Section 1202's legislative background and content. It explains the interpretation of the Third Circuit on the section based on legislative history. It accounts the practical effect of the case on litigation noting that the decision intensifies settlements in analogs acts of infringement cases and opens to legal intimidation.

The article offers information about laws in Great Britain regarding the facilitation of Internet copyright infringement. Topics include the liability of Internet service providers, the "safe harbour" provision regarding liability, the authorisation of online copyright infringement, and The Pirate Bay ruling in the European Union.

Se presenta un editorial en el que se discurre sobre el Acta de Cese de la Piratería en Línea (SOPA, por su nombre en inglés). Se ofrece un análisis del papel de la media social en el problema de la piratería, incluyendo los sitios web YouTube, Facebook y Twitter. Los autores presentan la piratería de Internet como un fenómeno social que requiere legislación más estricta.

The article discusses Chinese copyright law and its safe harbor protections as of January 2012, focusing on claims of defective notice and imputed liability for Internet service providers (ISPs). It states that under Chinese law, the safe harbor provisions for ISPs are less protective than those found in the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Chinese civil and joint liability laws are also addressed, along with take-down notice procedures regarding alleged copyright infringing material.

In the past decade, the entertainment industry has waged a very successful legal campaign against online copyright infringements. In a series of high-profile decisions, content industries have persuaded courts to accept expansive interpretations of contributory enforcement, to create novel doctrines of copyright infringement, and to apply broad interpretations of statutory damage provisions. Many private file sharers, technology companies, university administrators, and Internet service providers have felt the reach of this litigation effort. Yet a significant empirical anomaly exists: even as the copyright industry has ramped up the level of deterrence, online copyright infringements continue unabated. Why has the legal battle against file sharers been so ineffective? The most straightforward explanation is that infringers are not deterred, either because the probability of getting caught remains remote or because the sanctions are not sufficiently salient. If that is the case, the expansive statutory damage award remedies in decisions such as Capitol Records v. Thomas-Rasset and Sony BMG v. Tenenbaum carry renewed promise for the entertainment industry. In this Article we claim that this deterrence-based approach will prove futile and even counterproductive to the goals of copyright holders. We argue that copyright law faces conditions similar to Prohibition and other historical episodes of enforcement failure. When infringements are widespread, effective deterrence cannot be attained without raising enforcement to levels that undermine the support for the underlying rules. As a result, enforcement has the inadvertent effect of moving behavior in the opposite direction from that intended by the law. In the context of copyright law, enforcement has increased the gap between the social and legal perceptions of the law. Because file sharers, as a group, perceive copyright litigation as excessive, this inadvertently strengthens opposition to the legally protected interests of copyright law. To further our understanding of the interplay between enforcement and public attitudes, we conduct two empirical studies on norms and copyright law. The results confirm that copyright enforcement is a double-edged sword. While stringent sanctions have a modest deterrent effect on file-sharing behavior, they increase anti-copyright sentiments among frequent offenders. This raises a spectacular challenge for copyright enforcement: the more copyright owners push to step up sanctions for copyright infringements, the more the public resents the protected rights. Consequently, stepping up sanctions tends to increase--rather than decrease--the rate and frequency of infringing activities. Our key results suggest, therefore, that more stringent copyright enforcement will further erode respect for copyrights and may prove counterproductive to copyright owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the use of P2P networks and other ways of making available to the public of copyrighted contents without the authorization of Intellectual Property rights' holders, has considerably grown in Spain. In order to solve these problems and the damages caused by domestic piracy, it has been approved the called Ley Sinde (Final Provision 43 th of the Law 2/2011, on Sustainable Economy) and the Royal Decree 1889/2011, to develop it. It provides a proceeding though which rightholders can ask for the closure of a website that infringes intellectual property rights or the removal of the infringing content. It will be carried out by the Second Section of the Intellectual Property Commission, an administrative body, although the authorization by Judge must be requested in two moments of the proceeding: the transfer of personal data by providers of Internet service and the enforcement execution of the measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Section 97A blocking injunctions are fast becoming an established weapon in the previously ineffective arsenal of rightsholders seeking to curb online piracy. For the first time the jurisdiction has been relied upon by the sports industry, to protect the lucrative rights to broadcast Premier League football and other major sporting events against streaming website firstRow1.eu. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the protection of corporate intellectual property interests, the multi-national Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement, and the U.S. Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act.

An introduction is presented in which the co-editors in chief discuss various reports within the issue on topics including online piracy legislation, copyright treaties, and a copyright lawsuit involving an alleged sequel to the late author J.D. Salinger's book "The Catcher in the Rye."