On 1 February last, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit decided a case closely watched by both internet service providers (ISPs) and content owners. The ruling is a partial win for both sides, since the court affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded the case for a new trial. The case deals with two difficult and very interesting questions, the first being whether an ISP can be held liable for infringing activities of its subscribers, more precisely the up- and down-loading of copyright-protected musical works in the BitTorrent-Network. The second question was what mental state is required to establish the requisite intent for contributory copyright infringements: actual knowledge, wilful blindness or negligence?Facts of the caseBMG Rights Management, which controls rights to a vast amount of popular works, had Rightscorp, Inc. monitor the internet for copyright infringements in the BitTorrent-Network. Rightscorp, Inc. – over the course of about three years -…
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