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ARTICLE · 14 OCTOBER 2016

Know Thy Software Vendor: Website Operator Cannot Sidestep Copyright Infringement Claims Over Link To Allegedly Infringing Software

Proskauer Rose LLP
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A New York district court refused to dismiss most of the copyright infringement claims asserted against a website operator based on an allegation that the website linked to an infringing copy...

United StatesIntellectual Property
Jeffrey Neuburger
Jeffrey Neuburger
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Last month, a New York district court refused to dismiss most of the copyright infringement claims asserted against a website operator based on an allegation that the website linked to an infringing copy of plaintiff's software stored on a third-party's servers. (Live Face on Web, LLC v. Biblio Holdings LLC, 2016 WL 4766344 (S.D.N.Y., September 13, 2016)).

The software at issue allows websites to display a video of a personal host to welcome online visitors, explaining the website's products or services and, ideally, capturing the attention of the visitor and increasing the site's "stickiness."  A website operator/customer implements the software by embedding an HTML script tag to its website code to link the website to a copy of the software on the customer's server or an outside server. When a user's browser retrieves a webpage, a copy of the software is allegedly stored on the visitor's computer in cache.

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