Liability Of Internet Service Providers In Digital Environment

Dec 2022

Isp Liability In India:

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can be liable for the content on the sites they host. They can be liable even if they were merely passively hosting the site, unless they take down the objectionable material when they receive notice of it. The Copyright Act and the Information Technology Act includes the liability of ISP’s:

Criminal Liability:

As per Section 51(a)(ii) of the Copyright Act; An ISP can be held criminally liable when, he does an act of infringement or abets infringement of:

the copyright in a work, or
any other right conferred by this Act,

However, the Copyright Act clearly states that the ISP can be held liable only in the case he was unaware infringing material stored or being transmitted through their servers. This provides an exception to the liability.

Information Technology Act, 2000

Section 79 gives conditional immunity to (ISP) network service providers. It provides that a network service provider shall not be liable for any third party provider information or data made available by him if he proves that –

The data provided by third parties has transmitted through an ISP’s servers or temporarily stored or hosted.
The offence or contravention was committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence or contravention.

But, an intermediary will not get the benefit of exemption if:

The intermediary has conspired or abetted or aided or induced, whether by threats or promise or otherwise in the commission of unlawful act.
Upon actual knowledge that any data controlled by the intermediary is being used for unlawful act, the intermediary fails to expeditiously remove or disable access to that material without vitiating the evidence in any manner.
A person is said to have done an act with due diligence when in the layman’s terms he had done that act or prevented an act by reasonable standards expected out of a prudent person who is said to have the knowledge about such illegal activity.

Trending Blogs

3D Printing and IPR

The three-dimensional or 3D printing service is different from the traditional way of manufacturing. In the 3D process, objects are created layer wise to get the desired three dimensional impacts. Since the inception of this latest idea in 1980s, it has gone through several changes in the technology used. This requires use of different production […]

Delhi HC’s Ex Parte Order in Coca-Cola Company & Anr vs Glacier Water Industries Ltd.

This is a case of a Delhi High court ex parte proceeding concerning trademark dilution. The plaintiff filed a suit seeking a permanent injunction, damages and to restrain them from passing off their products as that of the plaintiff. The plaintiff also pleaded the court to restrain the defendants from using the mark ‘KINLEY’ and […]

Why Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual property rights create a situation in which the inventor or the creator enjoys full ownership and rights to commercial exploitation of his creation while everyone else is excluded. The justification is that such a creation, if it has material value, must benefit the creator while preventing others who would otherwise commercially exploit the concept […]

For a music composer, lyricist, a producer, or any performer, protecting music is a big concern under the U.S. copyright protection laws. By copyright, it indicates legal protection that is offered to the original work of music of the creator from others to use it by their name. The copyright law shall prevent others from […]

Lack of Music Publishing Knowledge Robbing Indian Artists of their Rights

In India there has been a lack of knowledge regarding publishing music. It can be said that a large part of publishing an art for is still unexplored. It is not about the common people but the artists and the music companies are oblivious towards it. At the initial stage due to lack of knowledge […]

Why Are Drug Patents Important Everything You Need to Know?

Before you ask for the importance of patent in the Pharmaceutical world, let us first learn about Patents. After a song is recorder, the song is approached by various music production companies who would like to rent the copyright of the song for marketing purpose and earn profit from it. And patent is almost similar, […]

Need for Kashmiri Saffron to get the GI tag

The Kashmiri Saffron has been given geographical indication tag recently from Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu. The acquiring of GI tag is a step ahead in bringing the brand among the list of top ones. The tag has been given for the saffron grown in Kashmir. In this regard, it can be said that the […]

India dropped to 40th position in International Intellectual Property Index

India has fallen to 40th position in the International Intellectual Property Index. This index helps know about the IP climate in the 53 global economies of the present year. This is as per the report US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center. As per last year’s report, India has been ranked in the 36th […]

Alibaba IPR Report Shows Ideal Brand Protection Program

As per sources, e-commerce giant, Alibaba group has successfully gained success using intellectual property rights-protection. The giant has been able to offer quality service due to well integration of the latest technological improvements coupled with partnerships with top-rated brands. Also, external stakeholders assisted the giant in offering quality service to proactively monitor, go through rights-holders […]

US and India to join hands on the grounds of Intellectual Property Rights

After US President Donald Trump’s visit in India from February 24 to 25th February, India and the US have opted for an agreement relating to intellectual property rights or IPR. As a result of this, the cabinet sanctioned MoU with the US pertaining to IPRs, relevant to information and broadcasting as has been stated by […]