Usenet (an abbreviation of "User Network") allows users to post
messages on various subjects that are posted to servers on a
worldwide network. Each subject collection of posted notes forms a
newsgroup - of which there are several thousand.
In the spring of 2000 Stephen Robertson, a fan of Ellison,
scanned his work and posted it to the alt.binaries.e-book
newsgroup. On 13th April 2000 Ellison became aware of the posting,
and lawyers for the author e-mailed AOL and Ellison's local service
provider on 17th April.
This was followed on 24th April by the filing of an action
against Robertson and AOL, after which AOL blocked access to the
postings.
In the district court Ellison argued that AOL's conduct was
analogous to that of Napster. The court disagreed. In granting
AOL's motion for summary judgment last week, Judge Florence-Marie
Cooper noted that AOL's servers were "just one hop" on Usenet's
distributed network and that the company was protected by the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which provides that, in
effect, an ISP is not liable for disputed material on its servers
if it removes it when notified.
However a three-panel Appeals Court has now partly reversed that
decision, on the basis that problems with AOL's complaints
procedure at the time of the postings may have been sufficient to
remove the protection offered the ISP under the DMCA.
The case has been remitted back to the district court for
consideration of that issue. In all other respects the Appeals
Court agreed with the lower court ruling.
