Aplicação e proteção dos direitos autorais na internet: a (des)necessidade de revisão do modelo de responsabilidade dos intermediários

Abstract

At the same time that it brought positive changes in the social living together, the Internet has also changed relations in such a way as to enable the review of legal rules and concepts. Copyright has not escaped this review, which, in the virtual ambit, gains new agents and contours. At the center of copyright relations on the Internet are the intermediaries, also known as platforms or Internet Service Providers, which distribute content to users. Over the years, the intermediaries have undergone significant changes, adopting a business model based on the generation and recreation of content by the users themselves. This new way of generating income implies tensions to copyright and brings into focus the viability of maintaining the model of quasi-exemption of responsibility of platforms for copyright violation by third parties. In light of the Brazilian laws, this research aims to investigate whether the model of liability of intermediaries is viable. To this end, the models adopted in the United States and in the European Union are analyzed. This need arises for three reasons: first, for the recognition that such regions were and are major influencers of the Brazilian norms on the subject; also, it is impossible not to notice that the main agents (technological and cultural industry) in the relationships dealt with here are based in these places, especially in the United States. Finally, and perhaps this is the main link between the Brazilian, the U.S. and the European Union systems, the system of liability of intermediaries for copyright violation in Brazil has as a parameter the U.S. law (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and the European Directives. Thus, this study is divided into two parts. In the first, it is approached the construction of copyright in these regions (Brazil, United States and European Union), as well as the relationship between the copyright agents and the technologies. In the second part, we analyze the liability models adopted, their implications, and their (un)need of revision. Finally, it goes a step further to ponder on other forms of liability of intermediaries and their possible implications.