LIABILITY OF INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS TO CONTROL ONLINE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT UNDER THE ETHIOPIAN COPYRIGHT LAW

Abstract

The main objective of providing legal protection for copyright under the Ethiopian copyright system is to protect the author’s interests and that of the public. To strike a balance between these interests, copyright law provides exclusive rights to the authors to exploit the fruit of their works, while at the same time, putting some limitations and exceptions on these rights in favour of public interest. The law forbids any interference with these rights beyond the allowed limitations and exceptions. Copyright law is thus, meant to achieve the dual goals embodied under copyright system of the country. However, revolution of internet and digitalization process disrupted the founding principle of copyright system by giving rise to new form of copyright violation on the internet generally termed as online copyright infringement which is the very pressing problem worldwide and to be addressed urgently in Ethiopia too. Internet technology, unquestionably, brought numerous advantages and possibilities for the development of copyright industry thereby facilitating the author’s intellectual creativity and widening markets for the exploitation of their works with much more versatility than in the past. Nonetheless, it is also the attributes of the same platform that posed the threat of piracy by allowing the illicit internet users to access, exploits or disseminates, unlawfully and for free, a copyrighted work of others on the internet using ISP’s platform. The key reason that renders online piracy so complex and problematic issue is related to the nature of the internet itself; it facilitates the occurrence of large amount of infringement so easily while making the controlling process extremely difficult task by allowing anonymous privilege for the perpetrators under which they hide themselves from the reach legal action for the purpose of liability. This in turn makes the involvement ISPs inevitable in the strategy of online copyright protection as they have proven to be the best and indispensable party to sanction piracy effectively. The aim of this study is thus, to investigate whether the Ethiopian copyright legal regime provide protection for copyright in cyberspace, particularly focusing on the liability of Internet Service Providers to control online copyright infringement under the current copyright law of the country. In doing so, the study applied doctrinal and comparative legal research methods relaying on both primary and secondary sources of data. Accordingly, the critical scrutiny made through this study reveals that, there is no any stipulation neither regulating copyright in cyberspace nor attributing online copyright protection liability to ISPs under the existent Ethiopian copyright legal regime. The absence of regulatory compliance which oblige ISPs to assist online copyright protection strategy can be considered as the main obstacle to scramble the aspiration of fighting piracy in Ethiopia. Based on the findings of this study therefore, the researcher suggests that the Ethiopian government should adopt a regulatory regime which impose online copyright protection liability on ISPs so that the right holders would enlist ISP’s aid to control the unlawful dissemination of their works on the internet and enforce their rights against the pirates. This would also help to accommodate the shortfall of Ethiopian copyright law in this regard