Manhattan judge rejects 'server test' for internet copyright infringement

[mahatmakanejeeves]

July 30, 2021
4:34 PM EDT

Last Updated 20 hours ago

Manhattan judge rejects 'server test' for internet copyright infringement

Blake Brittain

Summary
-- Embedding images can infringe copyrights, Rakoff says
-- Judge rejects 9th Circuit's 'server test' for infringing display rights
-- Rakoff is second Manhattan judge to reject 9th Cir test

(Reuters) - In a dispute over a video of a starving polar bear, a Manhattan federal court on Friday rejected Sinclair Broadcasting's argument that it and its affiliates couldn't have infringed the copyright in Paul Nicklen's video because they only embedded it on their websites from Instagram or Facebook.

In his decision denying Sinclair's motion to dismiss, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff split from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on its controversial server test, also known as the server rule, that says a website can only infringe a copyright by displaying an image if it also stores a copy on its server, finding the rule contradicts the Copyright Act.

"Proponents of the server rule suggest that a contrary rule would impose far-reaching and ruinous liability, supposedly grinding the internet to a halt," Rakoff said. "These speculations seem farfetched, but are, in any case, just speculations."

{snip}

Nicklen, a photographer, filmmaker, and founder of the nonprofit conservation group SeaLegacy, posted a video to his Instagram and Facebook accounts that he took of an emaciated polar bear wandering the Arctic. Sinclair later embedded the video in an article about it going viral, and Nicklen sued Sinclair and others for copyright infringement last year for displaying it without a license.

{snip}

[Igel]

1. I suspect this case isn't done. Provided Sinclair appeals. n/t