The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a 2012 decision from the Southern District of New York absolving
Photobucket.com, an internet photo-sharing service, from violating Sheila Wolk’s copyright in her fantasy images paintings.
Many of Wolk’s works were copied, stored, and printed by Photobucket users without Wolk’s authorization.
Photobucket relied on the “safe harbor” provisions of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) to release it from any liability or responsibility to police infringement. The Appeals Court agreed. The court found that copyright owners, not the Internet service providers, have the sole responsibility for protecting their copyright.
For more on this see the
article by Nancy Wollf, PACA Counsel, on the PACA website.