A case of obvious breach and much more.

The new website Mygazines.com has caught the attention of CyberPanda. The website enables users to upload and copy various current magazines including The Economist and Men`s Health.

The web site is reported to have approximately 16,000 users who are all clearly in breach of copyright laws,

The position of the website is that the copies available on the site is similar to copies of magazines available in the waiting room of a doctor or at a hair salon. However this argument is clearly hogwash as the nature of the use in a doctor`s room and the nature of the use online is completely different. There is no infringing copying involved in the former.

The right owners are currently considering their options. The main problem is one of enforcement as the domain name of the website is registered in Anguilla. Hence US may potentially not have jurisdiction over the matter. This case presents interesting issues including copyright, jurisdiction and enforcement of judgment and it will be interesting to see how this evolves.

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