DMCA Safe Harbor Provisions

References:

• DMCA Safe Harbor Explained: Why Your Website Needs a DMCA/Copyright Policy - Overview from a law firm

Notes:

• If someone copies, distributes, performs, or displays another party’s copyrighted content without their authorization, this is copyright infringement. Copyright owners can sue those who infringe on their copyright. 

• A website can be immune from liability if it abides by the Safe Harbor provisions set out in Section 512 of the DMCA.

• Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Safe Harbor provisions carve out a protection for websites that passively host user content. 

• To comply with the notice and takedown procedure, the website must:

  • Create a DMCA Policy and provide it to the site’s users (usually in the site’s Terms of Use),

  • Expeditiously remove infringing material or block access on proper notice, and

  • Implement a counter-notice process (optional).

• The DMCA covers U.S. copyright only, not trademark, patent, defamation or foreign copyright. However, it is not uncommon for a website to voluntarily provide DMCA-like notice and take down procedures for all intellectual property claims.

• [Add commentary around renewal of DMCA Copyright, every 3 years