"Many of the videos we find there are creative remixes of material protected under copyright.
The complaint also did not challenge the fact that Conan Doyle Estate Ltd. was "the sole and exclusive owner" of the material that remains under copyright.
Since that material is owned under copyright law by Miramax, he said he had to contact the production company for permission to "lift certain things" from the film, "because, frankly, film companies don't return opera companies' phone calls".
The most important factor in determining whether the use of copyrighted material is considered "fair" under copyright law is whether you are merely copying someone else's work verbatim or instead using it to help create something new.
Caveon, which declined to reveal what it charges clients, sends letters to the people who operate those Web sites requiring them to take down the material under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
David Stewart, an intellectual property lawyer and and principal at William + Hughes, told Guardian Australia the courts would have to develop a new test for whether a website's primary purpose was to facilitate copyright infringement, including consideration of what proportion of material available on the site was under copyright.
Copyright law has never forbidden all "copying" of a protected work; scholars and journalists have long been allowed to quote portions of copyrighted material under the doctrine of fair use.
There's also vague language in there about possible regulations that could result in legal action against whistleblowers for revealing trade secrets; and provisions that might make it harder to use copyrighted material under a fair use rationale.
The law makes it illegal to make, distribute or use a device designed to bypass technology that protects copyright material -- even to make a backup copy of a book, movie or song, which is traditionally allowed under copyright law.
