Law for Business 10th Edition by James Barnes,Terry Dworkin,Eric Richards

Exercise 10

Russ Hardenburgh operated a computer bulletin board service. For a fee, subscribers received access to certain files which were otherwise off limits to the general public, and had the right to download a set number of megabytes of electronic information from these files every week. The central BBS grew to 124 computers, with nearly 6,000 subscribers. Approximately 110,000 files were available for downloading, nearly half of which were graphic image files. To increase its stockpile of photographs, Hardenburgh provided an incentive to encourage subscribers to upload information onto the BBS. They were given a "credit" for each megabyte of electronic data that they uploaded onto the system. For each credit, the subscriber was entitled to download 1.5 extra megabytes of electronic information, in addition to the megabytes available under the normal terms of subscription. Many of the photographs contributed by subscribers were Playboy photographs. Is Hardenburgh liable to Playboy for copyright infringement? Explain.