Cooper

It appears that the Federal Court has made another excellent judgement regarding the bogeyman of copyright law - secondary infringement.

In Cooper a web site was programmed with hyper links to infringing items such as songs and other copyright material.

THe court found that the site 'authorised' infringement.

More interestingly, the Court also found that the ISP hosting the site had knowledge of the infringement and took a commercial gain by way of advertising on the site. By doing so they became co-infringers and were also the subject of orders.

This displays the logic of the secondary infringement standard. The authorisation is created by ommission of an act within your power to prevent infringement. It is a quasi duty not to infringe copyright -> This might become more apparent in the Grokster decision.