Table Of ContentStreaming and Copyright Law
This book examines the challenges posed to Australian copyright law by
streaming, from the end-user perspective. It compares the Australian position
with the European Union and United States to draw lessons from them, regarding
how they have dealt with streaming and copyright. By critically examining the
technological functionality of streaming and the failure of copyright enforcement
against the masses, it argues for strengthening end-user rights.
The rising popularity of streaming has resulted in a revolutionary change to
how digital content, such as sound recordings, cinematographic films, and radio
and television broadcasts, is used on the internet. Superseding the conventional
method of downloading, using streaming to access digital content has challenged
copyright law, because it is not clear whether end-user acts of streaming constitute
copyright infringement. These prevailing grey areas between copyright and
streaming often make end-users feel doubtful about accessing digital content
through streaming. It is uncertain whether exercising the right of reproduction
is appropriately suited for streaming, given the ambiguities of “embodiment”
and scope of “substantial part”. Conversely, the fair dealing defence in Australia
cannot be used aptly to defend end-users’ acts of streaming digital content,
because end-users who use streaming to access digital content can rarely rely
on the defence of fair dealing for the purposes of criticism or review, news
reporting, parody or satire, or research or study. When considering a temporary
copy exception, end-users are at risk of being held liable for infringement when
using streaming to access a website that contains infringing digital content, even
if they lack any knowledge about the content’s infringing nature. Moreover,
the grey areas in circumventing geo-blocking have made end-users hesitant to
access websites through streaming because it is not clear whether technological
protection measures apply to geo-blocking. End-users have a severe lack of
knowledge about whether they can use circumvention methods, such as virtual
private networks, to access streaming websites without being held liable for
copyright infringement. Despite the intricacies between copyright and access to
digital content, the recently implemented website-blocking laws have emboldened
copyright owners while suppressing end-users’ access to digital content. This is
because the principles of proportionality and public interest have been given less
attention when determining website-blocking injunctions.
Lasantha Ariyarathna (LLB (Hons) Colombo, LLM (La Trobe), M IP Law
(QUT), PhD (Griffith)) has functioned as a Research Assistant at the Law Futures
Centre at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. He is an Attorney-at-Law of the
Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.
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For more information about this series, please visit https://www. routledge. com/
Routledge- Research -in -Intellectual- Property /book -series /INTELLPROP
Streaming and Copyright Law
An end-user perspective
Lasantha Ariyarathna
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Lasantha Ariyarathna
The right of Lasantha Ariyarathna to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-032-26086-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-26090-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-26093-8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781032260938
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
To my wife Prabha and son Himsara
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Abbreviations ix
1 Introduction 1
2 Technological Aspects of Streaming 9
3 The Impact of Copyright Law on Streaming 24
4 Copyright Defences or Exceptions for Streaming
Digital Content 90
5 Circumvention of Geo-Blocking, Technological
Protection Measures, and Streaming 125
6 Website Blocking as a New Enforcement Mechanism,
Streaming, and End-Users 163
7 Conclusion and Recommendations 202
Bibliography 223
Index 256
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Associate Professor Kanchana Kariyawasam, and Dr Althaf
Marsoof, who encouraged me to turn my PhD thesis into a book, and for their
insightful comments, and unflagging support. I also would like to thank Dr Ben
French, Professor Leanne Wiseman, Professor Kamal Puri, and Professor Anne
Fitzgerald for their invaluable advice and the support I received at various stages
of my PhD. I would like to thank my friends, who encouraged me to publish this
book. I greatly value my wife Prabha’s emotional support. She has always stood
behind me, being a prime motivator to complete this book. I am thankful to my
son, Himsara, for being my stress-relaxer, although we find limited time to play
together. Finally, I owe a debt of gratitude to my parents for their unconditional
support and encouragement.
Abbreviations
ACCC Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
ACTPM Access Control Technological Protection Measure
AFACT Australian Federation against Copyright Theft
ALRC Australian Law Reform Commission
ARPANET Advanced Research Projects Agency Network
CDs Compact Discs
CJEU Court of Justice European Union
DMCA Digital Millennium Copyright Act
DRM Digital Rights Management
DSM Digital Single Market
DVDs Digital Versatile Discs
ECJ European Court of Justice
EU The European Union
IP Internet Protocol
ISPs Internet Service Providers
IT Information Technology
PSA Program Supply Agreement
RAM Random Access Memory
RIAA Recording Industry Association of America
RS-DVR Remote-Storage Digital Video Recording
Smart DNS Specific Domain Name Systems
STB Set-Top Boxes
TFEU Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
TPMs Technical Protection Measures
UK The United Kingdom
USA The United States of America
VPN Virtual Private Networks
WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization
