Norman Zada, the publisher behind Perfect 10, filed the suit in
January, complaining that the music and film industries are not the
only businesses under threat because of the proliferation of
internet piracy.
Visa International, First Data Corp, Cardservice International,
MasterCard International, and Humboldt Bank were all named in the
suit, which alleged that they knowingly provided "crucial
transactional support services" for the sale of millions of stolen
photos and film clips. Perfect 10 valued the stolen assets at
"billions of dollars".
Judge James Ware of the Northern District of California has
dismissed the suit, ruling that the credit card companies are not
liable for the actions of their customers.
He explained in his judgment: "To have engaged in contributory
copyright infringement, it is not sufficient for the Defendants to
merely have contributed to the general business of the
infringer."
To have materially contributed to copyright infringement, he
reasoned, the assistance "must bear some direct relationship to the
infringing acts."
"The ability to process credit cards does not directly assist
the allegedly infringing web sites in copying [Perfect 10's]
works," wrote Judge Ware in his ruling. "Defendants do not provide
the means for distributing those works to others, nor do they
provide bandwidth or storage space with which to transfer or store
the works."
"This ruling suggests that courts aren't eager to extend
contributory and vicarious copyright infringement to reach people
only remotely connected to alleged infringers," said Fred von
Lohmann, Senior Staff Attorney with rights group the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF).
EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz added, "Without the protections
acknowledged by this ruling, any copyright owner could drag dozens
of general service companies into court - from the gas company to
the electric company. This decision imposes important limits on
overzealous copyright owners."
Perfect 10 now has to decide whether to appeal.
