Natlawreview iconNatlawreviewSep 23, 2026 ~1 min source read

Copyright Update: The Fifth Circuit Says “No” to the Ninth Circuit Server Test and “Maybe” to URLs as Copyright Management Information (CMI)

The Internet is, at its core, a system of knowledge consisting of files stored on computers that are linked and made accessible to the public by URLs. The Fifth Circuit recently addressed the balance of making knowledge accessible and protecting the rights of copyright owners.

Copyright Update: The Fifth Circuit Says “No” to the Ninth Circuit Server Test and “Maybe” to URLs as Copyright Management Information (CMI)

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Useful takeaways from this story.

The Internet is, at its core, a system of knowledge consisting of files stored on computers that are linked and made accessible to the public by URLs.

The Fifth Circuit recently addressed the balance of making knowledge accessible and protecting the rights of copyright owners.

The district court also denied Emmerich's CMI removal claim finding that URLs serve primarily as a functional reference to locate addresses on the Internet and do not contain the markers necessary to...

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The useful part

The Internet is, at its core, a system of knowledge consisting of files stored on computers that are linked and made accessible to the public by URLs. The Fifth Circuit recently addressed the balance of making knowledge accessible and protecting the rights of copyright owners. The district court also denied Emmerich's CMI removal claim finding that URLs serve primarily as a functional reference to locate addresses on the Internet and do not contain the markers necessary to constitute CMI.

How it works

  • Under the Ninth Circuit's 20-year-old "server test," the owner of a computer that does not store and serve the electronic information to a u...

What to take from it

The district court denied Emmerich's display rights claim applying the Ninth Circuit's "server test" because Particle only linked to a copy of Emmerich's content stored on Emmerich's server without ever possessing the content itself.

Details worth keeping

The server test is dead, long live the server transmit test.

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