What is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)?
The DMCA is a US copyright law enacted in 1998. The “Safe Harbor” provisions of the Act protect internet service providers who adhere to the DMCA established procedure for accepting and following up on notices of infringements from the copyright violations of their customers. Most internet service providers have responded to the DMCA by taking refuge in the “Safe Harbor” provisions and establishing a procedure for accepting notices and removing web pages containing alleged copyright infringements. What happens after an infringement notice is sent to an internet service provider? U.S. internet service providers taking refuge in the “Safe Harbor” provisions of the DMCA are required to review the notice and expeditiously remove or disable access to the offending web page(s). After removal, the internet service provider is required to give notice to the owner of the webpage(s) containing the infringement. If a counter-notice is filed, the person who submitted the original notice will have
The DMCA was enacted in October 1998 primarily to bring U.S. copyright law into conformity with provisions of two World Intellectual Property Organization treaties to which the U.S. is a signatory. This Act facilitates the creation of a secure digital environment for use of copyrighted materials by encouraging the deployment of, and respect for, encryption and other technological protection systems. Accordingly, the DMCA prohibits (with certain limited exceptions): (1) manufacturing, importing, distributing, and providing products or services whose main purpose is to circumvent these systems; (2) taking action to engage in circumvention so as to gain unauthorized access to copyrighted works; and (3) removing, falsifying, or tampering with “copyright management information” (that is conveyed electronically with copyrighted works to identify them and their owners and provide other pertinent data about them). Beyond satisfying treaty obligations, the Act also seeks to clarify the rules fo
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a Federal law established in 1998. It criminalized the development or use of software that makes it possible for people to access materials that are copyright protected, like music files, DVDs, or software programs. It also makes it criminal to disseminate copyright protected materials. The impetus behind the DMCA is that computer piracy was quickly decreasing profits for those who disseminated information on the Internet or who sold software programs. Making pirated copies of materials like a word processing program, or duplicates of music were becoming an increasing headache for companies using the Internet or making profits therefrom. The DMCA sought to address this by setting forth specific rules regarding the criminal and civil prosecution of those violating copyrights. In some cases violation would include plagiarism, not citing particular sources appropriately, or deliberate theft. It also includes programming code that can provide
The DMCA was an attempt by Congress to update U.S. copyright law to a changing set of technological circumstances in 1998. Unfortunately, many of the provisions set forth in the DMCA are considered by a growing number of people to be “overbroad” and “too restrictive,” inhibiting fair use and other rights of the general public.
