Description
Under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998 (DMCA), a service provider will not be liable for transmitting or storing infringing material where the service provider has no actual knowledge or reason to suspect that the material is infringing, does not financially benefit from the infringing activity and acts expeditiously to remove or disable access to such material upon discovering or being notified that the same is infringing. The Act further absolves service providers of liability with respect to claims based on good faith disabling of access to, or removal of, material or activity claimed to be infringing, regardless of whether the material or activity is ultimately determined to be infringing.
To be able to claim these limitations of liability under the Act, a service provider must also comply with the following requirements. It must:
● have designated an agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement by making contact information available to the public on its website or through its service and also provide the same information to the US Copyright Office using its online registration system; (the Office maintains a centralised online directory1 of designated agent contact information for public use);
● implement and inform subscribers of a policy for terminating subscribers who are repeat infringers; and
● accommodate and not interfere with certain standard technical measures used by copyright owners to identify or protect copyrighted works.
In December 2016, the US Copyright Office introduced an online system of registration of designated copyright agents and an electronically generated directory to replace the Office’s old paper-based system and directory so now every service provider must register (or re-register if it previously filed a paper version) online from 31 December 2017.
Also, website owners which permit the display of user-generated content such as photos, videos, music, user-comments, blogs, opinions and the like, must include the contact information of its designated copyright agent to receive any notification of copyright infringement. This is usually part of their Website Terms of Use or hyperlink to this information in the Website Terms of Use Agreement.2 Failure to send a notice requesting the take-down of infringing material to the designated agent is likely to result in the notice being found ineffective.
There are now some “agencies” which will assist in take down services for example, DMCA.com which is owned and operated by Digital Millennium Copyright Act Services Ltd (a private company) has an easy to follow step-by-step guide to the process3 as follows:
“What we can remove for you?
Anything you created, [images, text, video, audio, products] that is being used online without your permission. No matter where in the world the infringing website is hosted. If someone is hosting your content illegally, we can get it taken down fast, or your money back!
Get your stolen content removed Start Your Takedown Now
Why use DMCA .com Takedown Services?
Industry Best in Class | Experience | Professionalism | Qualifications | Cheaper | Faster
As the name suggests our team at DMCA.com are industry best at getting stolen content taken down. From our researchers, to case managers and clients service teams, DMCA.com boasts one of the most experienced internet teams around. Our professional team of qualified internet experts know how to get your stolen content taken down fast because they have done it thousands of times before. Experience teaches what works and what doesn’t. No matter what site or what country the thieving website is hosted in the DMCA.com team prides itself of takedown success. We are motivated to get your content taken off a thieving site. It’s why the 100% money back guarantee. We only get paid if we succeed.
Time is Everything
Speed is of the essence. You must get your stolen content down quickly. The less time your content is on a thieving site the better. For many many reasons. We know getting your content removed fast is important. All our takedown cases use date time codes for process tracking.
3 minutes is all it takes to complete our takedown form and get your case started. We will most likely have your content taken down before you can find a lawyer to work on your case.
With experience comes knowledge. The takedown case experience at DMCA.com means our team knows the fastest path to getting your stolen content taken down. We have the right process and case handling procedures. DMCA.com has built a takedown case handling system that creates the most efficient, fast and effective content removal process. Whether its 1 takedown case or 1 million cases.”
[1] https://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory. [2] See Contracts 68, 69 and 70. [3] http://www.dmca.com/Takedowns.aspx?ad=xtkdnwrd&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImZSgtJDp1gIVSCjTCh2uUw_ZEAAYASAAEgKDsfD_BwE.
