MPAA Can Shut InternetMovies.com Without Infringement Proof: Court

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act does not stop the Motion Picture Association of America from shutting down InternetMovies.com without proof or any investigation that the Website infringed any copyrights, a federal judge here has ruled. InternetMovies.com owner Michael J. Rossi filed an appeal May 28.

The court upheld a DMCA provision that a "good faith belief" of copyright infringement does not require a copyright holder or representative to investigate the suspected infringer. InternetMovies.com had sued the MPAA a year earlier, after a round of cease-and-desist orders from 2001 accused the Website "wrongfully" of distributing copyrighted films, including an early print of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. The MPAA ultimately shut the site down for a period, InternetMovies.com said in an announcement of its appeal.

InternetMovies.com rejected an offer from the MPAA to settle out of court if the Website waived appeal rights. Rossi will argue that if a requirement of "reasonable investigation" prior to such a Website shutdown isn't read into the DMCA, the law "would alter the usual legal relationship of the parties in favor of the copyright holder, providing little or no recourse to the person of business wrongfully accused of violating copyright laws.

"This has serious implications to university campuses as many students and faculty use the school as ISPs and any copyright holder can seek to lawfully shut down whole university networks or obtain individual identity without an investigation under the protection of the DMCA," InternetMovies.com continued. "Currently, robot programs are used to scour the Internet looking for possible copyright violators, especially in P2P networks, found across many college campuses. The DMCA justifies the actions of copyright holders like members of the MPAA to send threats and ultimately shut down groups and individuals without proof. Technology and machines hunting down people, and destroying without proven cause are not just Hollywood movies anymore."