Pocket Part

SERVICE PROVIDER LIABILITY

Pocket Part

● Last updated - February 2, 1998

§ Pending legislation

House bill 2180 introduced in July, 1997.

Senate bill 1146 introduced in September, 1997 has a provision dealing with OSP liability -- educational institutions and libraries favor this one because of the notice and take down provision.

§ Recent cases

Zeran v. America Online, Inc. - Service provider held not liable because of the operation of Federal statute. Service Providers offered protection if they make an effort to screen the content posted on their network. This ostensibly serves to encourage the development of screening and blocking systems by in effect holding the Service Provider harmless if it is negligent in operating its screening and blocking mechanism.

Playboy Enterprises Inc. v. Russ Hardenburgh, Inc. - holds service provider liable for direct infringement and for contributory infringement. Two key points: (1) Defendant operator encouraged subscribers to upload material to the network and adult material in particular. (2) Defendant operator had a screening mechanism and procedure in place to check for obscene material and for material that was obviously protected - he had editorial control.

§ Unrelated but interesting

http://www.house.gov/science/magaziner_03-31.htm - Ira Magaziner addressing domain name registration in 1998.

Service Provider Liability Pages

Introduction • Table of Contents
Servcie Providers - Overview • Service Providers - Discussion • Liability Analogies - Overview • Liability Analogies - Discussion • Defamation - Overview • Defamation - Discussion • Intellectual Property - Overview • Intellectual Property - Discussion • Obscenity - Overview • Obscenity - Discussion • Criminal - Overview • Criminal Discussion • Privacy - Overview • Privacy - Discussion • Policy Discussion • Conclusion • Pocket Part • Notes & Links

Prepared for Professor Laura Gasaway's Cyberspace Law Seminar (Law - 357C)
UNC School of Law - Spring 1997

By: Ashe Lockhart (Webmaster) & Carol Kozar

Instructor: Laura N. Gasaway, Professor of Law and Director of the Katherine R. Everett Law Library