The practical difficulties of applying the tort Private International Law rules to the internet using online copyright infringement as the primary research component

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to analyse the very real and practical difficulties faced by lawyers in applying the tort private international law (PIL) rules to the internet and to investigate which factors, technology-related or otherwise, either assist or hinder the application of the PIL rules to the internet. These practical difficulties arise from the fact that many of the basic provisions of PIL relate to physical world (or offline) elements such as domicile, nationality and place of damage or harmful event (locus delicti). Effective application of PIL rules is dependent on sovereign competence operating within clear jurisdictional borders. As a consequence, difficulties arise for conflicts lawyers as the internet often disregards borders. Ubiquitous torts, such as unauthorised peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing affecting copyright works and online defamation have become commonplace in the online world.