Navigating DMCA: Limitation of Liability, Notice, Takedown Procedures and Safe Harbors

Description

In first quarter 2016, Google received some 213 million takedown requests due to copyright infringement claims, a 125% jump from the same time last year. However, nearly 30% of all takedown requests are problematic with millions targeting sites that aren’t clearly infringing content.

Under the §512 safe harbor provisions of the DMCA copyright owners can protect their copyrights without liability being imposed on online service providers (OSP). Lenz v. Universal Music Corp. (9th Cir. 2015) shifts the burden to the content owner to correctly identify infringing material and means that, before demanding takedown of infringing material, the copyright owner must evaluate the risk of liability for misrepresentation.

As technology continues to create new ways for sharing content, the courts will face novel issues challenging the application of DMCA safe harbor provisions. New technology raises the complexity when determining whether a service provider knew of infringing activity or whether a copyright owner engaged in a good faith consideration of fair use.

Listen as our authoritative panel examines the DMCA and its criteria. The panel will discuss limitation of liability and safe harbors. The panel will also cover notice and takedown procedures, including §512 pitfalls for the unwary. The panel will offer best practices for both copyright owners and subscribers as well as OSps.