In late March, the Ninth Circuit handed down an important holding about 47 U.S.C. § 230. This statute immunizes Internet Service Providers, Web site operators, and others from being held liable for what their users post. Thus, for instance, if you post something defamatory in the comments, we won’t be liable for it to the defamed party, though you would be liable, and though we would be liable for content we ourselves originate.
The statute, though, exempts “intellectual property.” That clearly means the provider or operator could be liable for copyright infringement by its users (subject to the separate rules provided by the Digital Milennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C.