Supreme Court Won't Decide On 'Good Faith' Provision In DMCA

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

05 May 2005

It emerged on Monday that the US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal brought by the owner of the InternetMovies.com website over the interpretation of the "good faith" protection contained in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

The dispute between Michael Jay Rossi and the Motion Picture Association of America began in 2002, when the MPAA called on InternetMovies.com's hosting service to shut the website down, arguing that it was offering copyrighted material (namely the third installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy) for illegal downloading purposes.

On April 29, 2003, the US District Court for the District of Hawaii ruled that the MPAA had wrongfully accused Mr Rossi of distributing unauthorised copies of the film. However, the court also ruled that if a copyright holder has the 'good faith belief' that their rights are being infringed, they need not conduct an investigation before taking action against the accused.

Following delivery of the verdict, the MPAA offered the InternetMovies.com owner a settlement if he would waive the right to appeal. He decided to refuse the proposed agreement, appealing the interpretation of the DMCA at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and finally petitioning the Supreme Court.

In a statement released following the Supreme Court's accouncement, Rossi observed that:

"All I was doing was reporting news about movies online. This now proves there are no freedom of speech or due process rights on the Internet for the common person."

He continued:

"Believing material from the future is downloadable is now a valid and reasonable belief that protects copyright holders to continue to abuse the 'shoot now, ask later' good faith belief in the DMCA. A Pandora's box of troubles for web site owners and individuals is open."

"I am very sad to see that American rights have been an illusion all this time. The DMCA is meant to sever our constitutional rights in my eyes. I can only hope that copyright holders do not abuse this DMCA super power, but as you can see they already do. Look for the book downloadable soon: 'In Hollywood we trust, no liberty or justice for all.'"

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