A Copyfighter’s Musings

So far as I can tell, Michael Robertson’s new Oboe Music Locker is leaning on music owner’s fair use right and the DMCA safe harbor 512(c) to avoid the fate of his sued-to-death Beam-it service (aka, the MP3.com suit). 
Since Oboe isn’t loading the songs by itself and is instead allowing
users to copy music onto Oboe’s servers, Oboe is much like any other
hosting service. The uploader may be making a fair use. Even if there
is some direct infringement occurring, rights holders would have to
send a notice for takedown.  Of course, the rights holders have no
idea what’s in people’s private lockers, so this seems unlikely. 
At least that’s what their reasoning seems to be.

Question: to what extent could these screenshots give Oboe sufficient knowledge to preclude protection under the safe harbor?

Filed by Derek Slater at 4:42 pm under General news
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