Articles from August 2009
ISP 'Safe Harbor' Loopholes Panned
Criticism has been leveled at the “Internet Service Provider Liability Limitation” amendments to Taiwan’s Copyright Act that came into effect in May 2009. The amendments resemble the ISP liability limitation regime set out in the 1998 US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Title II and provide for a notice-takedown-counter notice mechanism as well as a controversial “three strikes” rule whereby alleged offenders face termination of services in whole or in part.
The amendments have been justified as necessary to reduce online copyright infringement in Taiwan while setting limitations on the liability of an ISP for acts of infringement committed by users. To avail themselves of the “safe harbor” protections from civil and criminal liability, ISPs must remove or disable allegedly infringing material upon notification from a rights holder. ISPs, however, need not make a substantive determination as to whether the activity cited in a notification constitutes infringement.
Although the amendments to the Act include mechanisms to discourage the sending of false notifications, concerns remain that an ISP may be compelled to remove material or terminate user access on the basis of an allegation of infringement. Individual users of connection services do not even have the option of providing a counter-notification in the event that the ISP warns the user that a notice has been received. Receipt of three notices should lead to the termination of a user’s access to the internet by the ISP in whole or in part. An individual user’s only real recourse would be to take legal action against party issuing the notice(s).
