In your Lab Report file, describe the case and be sure to include the following topics:
· How did Napster try to defend itself against RIAA’s claims?
Napster claimed that its activities fell within safe harbor space of the DMCA.
· What does contributory infringement of copyright mean and how did this affect Napster?
One who knowingly induces, causes or materially contributes to copyright infringement, by another but who has not committed or participated in the infringing acts him or herself, may be held liable as a contributory infringer if he or she had knowledge, or reason to know, of the infringement (vrobart, 2009).
To me this means Napster tried pretending they didn’t know that other people were infringing on copyrights with their software. But it was their software so they had to know and they made money doing it.
· What does material contribution mean and how did this affect Napster?
Napster was trying use the System Caching safe harbor. They were merely acting as a conduit from computer to computer. Material contribution was because the software Napster created was specifically designed to promoted the illegal acts. This “contributed” to people infringing on copyright laws (“A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc. (2000) - Wikipedia,” n.d.).
· What was the court’s decision about the case? What became of Napster?
They lost in the District Court and lost an Appeal. They filed for bankruptcy and were bought by Best Buy (Director of Dra Operations It Grc and Cybersecurity Programs Educause Joanna Lyn Grama & Grama, 2014).
Describe the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
There are four and you only have to meet one of them to be protected even though you might be an offender for one of the others. But you must meet all requirements of the single safe harbor you are applying for.
· Transitory communications (providing network communications services)
· System caching
· Storage of information on systems or networks at the direction of users (hosting)
· Providing information location tools (search engines) (“Digital Law Online: DMCA Safe Harbors,” n.d.)
Explain how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act affected the Napster music-piracy case.
DMCA title I protects the creative digital copies of music and their illegal copying of them without proper permission. People were downloading and sharing digitally perfect versions of music that they did not pay for.
Title II is the safe harbor provision where Napster was trying to claim itself a conduit and use the System Caching provision (“THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT (AND MAKING SENSE OF NAPSTER) | Law Office of David McEwing, P.C,” n.d.).
Lab Assessment Questions & Answers
1. What was the premise behind the Recording Industry Association of America’s lawsuit against Napster?
That Napster users were infringing on their copyrighted material and that Napster for secondary reasons, Napster was liable.
2. Based on your knowledge of how Napster works, if you downloaded a copy of a song f...
