| Summary: | This thesis considers random access memory, cache, and out- and in-line linking as selected new forms of copyright infringement involving protected digital content. It examines the legality of transient and incidental copies in random access memory and cache client or local caching and proxy server or forward caching, and discusses the legality of different types of linking: surface and deep links and in-line linking, through critical analysis of the United Kingdom law, before and after the latest amendments in 2003 to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, in addition to the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002. A brief discussion regarding the position of some European countries before and after the implementations of several European Union Directives related to copyright infringement concerning internet is also presented. The thesis considers several arguments related to the copyright holders' exclusive rights, such as issuing copies of the work to the public, performing, showing or playing the work in public or communicating the work to the public. However, it focuses mainly on the reproduction right. Several traditional defences to infringement of copyright are presented, especially fair dealing and implied licence. Also considered are different potential technological solutions, such as date bombs, metering technology, link removal request policy or password protection, and non-technological solutions, such as licensing or obtaining an agreement to link, as means of avoiding those new forms of copyright infringement. It is concluded that it is important to amend some pieces of the United Kingdom legislation, especially section 28A of the United Kingdom Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the United Kingdom Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, as well as some pieces of the Directive 2001/29/EC of the European parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of Certain Aspects of Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society, and the Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (Directive on electronic commerce).
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