9th Circuit's Mavrix v. LiveJournal Ruling a 'Lifeline' for Content Creators, Mavrix Lawyer Says

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in Mavrix Photographs v. LiveJournal “will be a lifeline to content creators who are being destroyed by mass infringement online,” Mavrix lawyer Peter Afrasiabi of law firm One e-mailed us Monday. A three-judge 9th Circuit panel ruled Friday that Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 512 safe harbor provisions don't shield LiveJournal from infringement lawsuits in some instances because the company's cadre of volunteer moderators had a significant amount of control over the nature of user-generated content posted on the social media platform (see 1704100040). “LiveJournal, like so many online businesses, encourages users to upload content they don’t own so LiveJournal can display it and reap advertising revenues,” Afrasiabi said. “Then they try to hide behind the DMCA safe harbors to avoid liability for known infringements. This decision is an important first step in putting an end to that business model.”