Court Shields Credit Card Processors in Copyright Suit

SAN FRANCISCO – Companies that process credit card payments for Internet sites featuring pirated content are not liable for copyright infringement, a U.S. appeals court panel ruled on Tuesday. The Ninthth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco affirmed a lower court's decision to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Perfect 10, a Beverly Hills-based adult magazine and Web site publisher, against First Data Corp., Visa, MasterCard and affiliated banks. The suit alleged that the financial companies contributed to copyright infringement because they helped consumers to download pirated images. However, the court's three-judge panel dismissed that contention. The credit card companies cannot be said to materially contribute to the infringement in this case because they have no direct connection to that infringement, Judge Milan Smith Jr. wrote in the court's majority opinion. The decision struck a blow to Perfect 10's efforts to cripple Web sites that sell access to its collection of erotic photographs without permission.