Secondary Liability for Copyright Infringement in the Bit Torrent Platform: Placing the Blame where it belongs

Okechukwu Benjamin Vincents, National University of Singapore

Abstract

Speculates on the extent to which the BitTorrent platform might be secondarily liable for the copyright infringements of its users, given its potential reliance on the defence established in Sony Corp of America v Universal City Studios Inc. Examines US, Australian and UK statute and case law relevant to the secondary liability of file sharing software providers. Describes how BitTorrent is used to share files and explores how each of the jurisdictions might address the issue of the liability of its various participants.