In order to be eligible for the safe harbor protection of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 U.S.C. 512(c), the defendant must show that the photographs at issue were stored at the direction of the user. The Ninth Circuit filed an amended opinion reversing the district court’s holding, on summary judgment, that defendant was protected by the safe harbor of the DMCA from liability for posting plaintiff’s photographs online and vacating a discovery order. The panel held that the common law of agency applied to safe harbor defenses and that, in this case, there were genuine factual disputes regarding whether the moderators are LiveJournal’s agents. The panel addressed the remaining elements of the safe harbor defense and vacated the district court’s order denying discovery of the moderators’ identities. The panel remanded for further proceedings. View “Mavrix Photographs, LLC v. LiveJournal, Inc.” on Justia Law