深層鏈接直接侵權責任認定的實質提供標準

Using Substantial Provision Test to Determine Direct Liability of Deep Link

縱觀著作權權能的歷史發展與現行範圍，作品利用行為的責任定性包含兩方面的考慮：一方面，權利人開發某種利用行為潛在的社會福利能力越強，該利用行為越可能引發責任；另一方面，利用者對內容和傳播方式的干預程度越高，越可能引發直接侵權責任。深層鏈接的侵權責任同樣由這兩項因素判定，而與服務器生成複製件這一技術特徵無必然聯繫。如果非跳轉鏈接對內容的選擇程度很高，對內容展示和傳輸方式的干預很強，以致用戶能夠直接從設鏈網站獲得作品，則深層鏈接成立直接侵權，這種判定方法可稱為“實質提供標準”。該標準與現有學說均有區別，模糊性、效果取向和部分深層鏈接應予免責等顧慮都不足以影響“實質提供標準”的合理性。

There are two factors that influence whether a certain use of a work falls within the scope of direct liability. First, the more comparatively capable the right holder is in maximizing the potential social welfare through control of a certain use, the more likely such a use leads to copyright liability. Second, the stronger the user's intervention in arranging the content and the way the content presented, the higher the possibility is that the user will be held directly liable. Many deep link cases score high under both factors: on one hand, the right holders are in a better position to commercialize deep link. On another hand, the defendants have developed specific technical measures to target the high value works and display them on the defendant's own websites. Whether the defendants have created copies of the works on their own servers might have been a useful proxy in the early days of internet. However, the quality of this proxy has deteriorated. A more consistent test for the liability of deep link is the substantial provision of works test. In case the defendant provides the work to the public on its own website, either through display or download, and the public associates the works more with the defendant's website rather than the plaintiff's website (the public need not confuse as to who the right holder of the work is), such deep link shall constitute direct infringement. Potential critics to the ''substantial provision of the works test'', such as it's too ambiguous, too consequence-oriented and might hold innocent users liable, can all be rebutted through comparison to other tests under other direct infringement uses, such as the ''substantial similar test'' under right of reproduction.