Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
Copyright Law is both powerful and well developed for traditional two and
three dimensional mediums such as print and sculpture. However, computer works,
digitized text, images, videos, sound, electronic databases, and the internet,
quickly placed a slow-evolving legal system in great stress for many years
with respect to copyright protection and infringement. The public outcry paved
the way for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was drafted and signed into law
in October 1998. The DMCA is a complex piece of legislation intended to clarify
the applicability of copyright law to the digital environment. It affirms
the Copyright Act's balance between the grant of exclusive rights to copyright
owners and exceptions to those rights for the public benefit. For example,
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act contains provisions that, under certain
circumstances, limit the liability of online service providers (ISP’s)
for copyright violations of their users.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act Highlights:
- Makes it
a crime to circumvent anti-piracy measures built into most commercial
software.
- Outlaws the manufacture,
sale, or distribution of code-cracking devices used to illegally copy
software.
- Does permit the
cracking of copyright protection devices, however, to conduct encryption
research, assess product interoperability,
and test
computer security
systems.
- Provides exemptions
from anti-circumvention provisions for nonprofit libraries, archives,
and educational institutions under
certain circumstances.
- In general, limits
Internet service providers (ISPs) from copyright infringement liability
for simply transmitting
information over the Internet.
- Service providers,
however, are expected to remove material from users' web sites that
appears to constitute
copyright infringement upon
proper notification.
- Limits liability
of nonprofit institutions of higher education -- when they serve as
online service providers and under
certain circumstances
-- for copyright infringement by faculty members or graduate students.
- Requires that "webcasters" pay
licensing fees to record companies.
- Requires that
the Register of Copyrights, after consultation with relevant parties,
submit to Congress recommendations
regarding
how to promote distance education through digital technologies while "maintaining
an appropriate balance between the rights of copyright owners and
the needs of users."
- States explicitly
that "[n]othing
in this section shall affect rights, remedies, limitations, or defenses
to copyright infringement, including fair
use..."
At Vern Maine & Associates, we take the position that Intellectual Property is
the Business of the Future, and that copyright protection is an important
and effective tool in the legal arsenal.
For more information about obtaining copyright protection
for your digital work, or the impact of the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act on your business,
consult the copyright section of the website or contact
Vern Maine & Associates directly at copyright@maineandasmus.com.
Additional
Copyright Information:
Copyright
Basics provides
general information about copyright law, and sources of further information.
Copyright
Intake Form facilitates
the collection and reporting of the information required by a copyright
attorney or by a party seeking to file a U.S. copyright registration.
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