Abstract
In this time of modern technology and booming social media, the growth in intellectual property protection is no surprise. It logically follows that with more robust intellectual property protection there exists a greater chance of infringement. The likelihood of innocently infringing on a person’s registered copyright is at an all-time high. Due to the increased likelihood of innocent infringement, “copyright trolls” have emerged and developed unethical business tactics to prey off “innocent infringement.” Just like fairytale trolls who hide under bridges hoping to pester bystanders, copyright trolls also seek to burden peoples’ days. Not only do copyright trolls prey off innocent infringement, but they also bait their copyrighted work to entice infringement. The federal Copyright Act (the “Copyright Act”) was written in 1976 and is not structured to handle the abusive behavior employed by copyright trolls with the help of the internet. Courts have little stopping power against these trolls and must defer to legislative actions; and although courts constantly hear cases, they have yet to set any real precedent. One solution is for the Copyright Act to undergo substantive changes to make copying and reproducing copyrighted works more difficult with greater notice of their status provided to the everyday consumer. This Comment will dive into the waters beneath a troll’s bridge to understand why courts have not put an end to their abusive tactics. The Comment will look at a possible amendment to the Copyright Act of 1976 that can provide a solution against abusive infringement claims in our modern technological age. The Comment then offers an analysis of the leading copyright troll case in New Mexico and how copyright troll cases heard in other jurisdictions may provide guidance to the District of New Mexico to help understand which defenses are most likely to succeed. Clarity amongst the courts paired with a legislative amendment will hopefully provide relief to “innocent infringers” and at the same time provide information to the legal field on how to deal with copyright trolls.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Daniel Berenger-Russell,
The Water Under the Bridge is Darkening—An Analysis of Copyright Law and the Prevalence of Copyright Trolls,
54
N.M. L. Rev.
297
(2024).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmlr/vol54/iss1/10
