The chances of eliminating cyber copyright infringement in the long term -- despite encouraging recent rulings and the blocking of prominent law-breaking web sites – are slim, pessimistic industry experts maintain.
Richard Cox, the chief information officer at spam-preventing and internet law monitoring organisation Spamhaus, suggested that it may be impossible to get ahead of cyber criminals, as they can outpace laws by ‘distorting the fabric of the internet’.
Speaking at the Federation Against Copyright Theft’s legal advisory group meeting yesterday, Mr Cox cited several methods employed by internet-savvy criminals to mask their location and make it impossible to determine the origins of a connection.

Postive steps

Simon Baggs – a partner in the litigation group and the head of the intellectual property/rights protection team at London-based law firm Wiggin – pointed to some positive steps taken to address copyright infringement on the internet. Mr Baggs’ recent work includes advising the film industry in securing the first order in the UK requiring an internet service provider to prevent subscriber access to an infringing website – Newzbin2.
Mr Baggs noted that the use of section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act – which was introduced in 2001 but only used for the first time in October 2011 – is a key step in reducing on-line infringement. It is currently being invoked in the Pirate Bay litigation, which involves attempts to block access to the Sweden-based file-sharing web site.
That section states: ‘The High Court… shall have power to grant an injunction against a service provider, where that service provider has actual knowledge of another person using their service to infringe copyright.’

Impossible to block

But Mr Cox also said that if two parties have the technical ability to make a connection, it is close to impossible to block. He also questioned whether section 97A would apply if a program were created to search for the infringing material. He said: ‘This is the calm before the storm… it will not be long until the block is useless.’
Mr Baggs said: ‘Those keen to avoid a block can… but the block is effective for 70 per cent of those who are less technically able.’
Mr Baggs also suggested there will forever be a ‘tech arms race’, and questioned whether the most appropriate step forward would be to tackle the advertisers who appear on infringing web sites, cutting off the revenue to web site owners.