DMCA

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 makes distributing copyrighted material over the Internet without the copyright holders' permission illegal, this includes music, movies, videos, games.

Only the copyright holder has the legal right to distribute their work.

Just because you bought it does not give you the right to distribute it!

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) violations of the DMCA very seriously. They are constantly using digital tools to search the Internet for unlicensed copies of movies, videos, music, and games. When they discover incidents of illegal use or distribution they regularly issue:

    • Preservation Notices to the ISP of the user that appears to be illegally downloading or distributing the copyrighted material. This letter will ask the ISP to provide the attorney in charge with the name, address, email, MAC address, IP, and other informatio

    • n so that they may contact the individual. If the ISP refuses, then the ISP can be served with a subpoena to do so.

    • Early Settlement Notices are then sent to the individual or company in violation of the DMCA. This letter will list the actual music or other material that was obtained or shared illegally. It will offer to let the violator pay to pre-settle the claim in order to avoid an actual lawsuit. Typical charges are $750 per recording. The violator is also put on notice not to destroy any evidence. If the violator does not pay to pre-settle, then a lawsuit is filed and the violator risks losing the case with much higher penalties plus paying for the legal cost for themselves and for the RIAA.

Don't bring P2P clients or Bittorrent to school with you!

References:

About copyright notices. (2015, August). Retrieved from Recording Industry Association of America

(RIAA): https://www.riaa.com/resources-learning/copyright-notices/

Cease and desist letter tips. (2015, August). Retrieved from Public Domain

Sherpa: http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/cease-and-desist-letter.html

Tremble, M. (2010). Setting foot on enemy ground: Cease-and-desist orders, DMCA notifications, and personal jurisdiction

in declaratory judgment actions. Retrieved from UNLV School of Law:

https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/facpub/105/