Dated 8 June, 2004: “America Online, Inc. and multiple award winning author Harlan Ellison today announced a settlement of their four-year old copyright dispute.
“Ellison sued AOL in April 2000 over concerns that unauthorized copies of his and the works of other authors were being distributed through the USENET newsgroup alt.binaries.e-book, which, at that time, could be accessed through AOL’s and others’ services. AOL blocked its users’ access to the alt.binaries.e-book newsgroup immediately after Ellison filed his lawsuit.
“In April 2002, AOL won a summary judgment dismissing Ellison’s claims based on the limitations of copyright liability granted to Internet service providers under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (‘DMCA’). Ellison appealed that decision. In February 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit partially affirmed and partially reversed the summary judgment. The Court confirmed that AOL could qualify for the DMCA’s limitation on copyright liability as a ‘passive conduit’ under the DMCA.
“Both AOL and Ellison are pleased this case was able to draw the courts’ and the public’s attention to the issue of online piracy and advance the legal issues relating to copyrights in the digital world.”
Yay Harlan!!
