• Copyright infringement can create liability issues for parties not directly involved.black copyright symbol image by Angie Chauvin from Fotolia.com
  
  Copyright law is intended to protect the right of writers, musicians, artists and other creators to profit from their original work. Anyone who uses someone else's original work without permission in a way that decreases the work's market value or damages the copyright owner's reputation may be held liable. On the Internet, however, one copyright infringer could create liability issues for other parties not directly involved.
  
  

Internet Service Providers

• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 addresses copyright issues as they pertain to the Internet. A portion of this act--the Online Infringement Liability Limitation Act--decrees that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are not liable for monetary damages to a copyright owner if an ISP customer uses the ISP's network to infringe on the owner's rights by uploading copyrighted material without permission. However, to be free from this liability, the law mandates that ISPs immediately remove the infringing material from their networks upon receiving a takedown notice from the copyright owner. If they do not, they may be subject to court injunctions against their operations which could be extremely detrimental to their businesses and customers.
  
  

Bloggers

• The Electronic Frontier Foundation warns that bloggers--especially those who write about music--may inadvertently infringe on a copyright owner's rights by linking to or posting music someone else has illegally uploaded. Such accidental infringement can happen even if bloggers or other Internet content creators ask permission, because the person who grants it may not be the actual copyright owner, or there may be another copyright owner in a different country who disapproves. Because ISPs must remove infringing content immediately to avoid liability issues, bloggers may lose their websites through no fault of their own.
  
  

DMCA Counter-Notices

• If a blogger or website owner feels his website has been shut down by his ISP unfairly because of copyright infringement issues, he can send the ISP a counter-notice. However, this could escalate the situation. The law on counter-notices requires ISPs to put the blogger's material back up if the copyright owner doesn't file a lawsuit within 14 days. Bloggers must be certain of their right to use the material and be careful what they say in a counter-notice. If found to have made false claims in a counter-notice, bloggers could be found liable for damages to the copyright owner.
  
  

Fair Use

• The United States Copyright Act allows people to use small portions of a copyrighted work without permission for the purposes of "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research." As long as the use isn't excessive and doesn't negatively impact the market value of the work, the person using it is not liable for damages.