The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is hardly a perfect law. One of many problems with the legislation is it allows dubious parties to abuse it with few repercussions. Occasionally, the abusers get into trouble, which is what happened when YouTube filed a lawsuit against Christopher Brady. DMCA Abuse Allegations The YouTube complaint reads: “Defendant, …
Record Companies New Strategy For Attacking DMCA
Record companies are known for their “enthusiastic” pursuit of copyright infringers online. Give this attitude, the companies are none too fond of the DMCA. The industry has spent millions of dollars trying to find methods for piercing the DMCA safe harbor provided to sites under the law. Most of the strategies have failed and the …
Music Site May Lose DMCA Protection After Failing To Designate An Agent
Ma Numerous music industry groups have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Spinrilla, which provides a hip-hop user-generated content platform. Spinrilla is claiming the DMCA safe harbor protects it, but the company may have a problem. The suing parties are alleging Spinrilla failed to comply with the DMCA and waived the protections of the law. …
Does Using Moderators Terminate DMCA Safe Harbor Protection?
User-generated content is terrific stuff. Massive fortunes have been built on its back as we can see with the Facebooks and Twitters of the world. With the good comes the annoying, which in this case means coming up with a method for dealing with the massive amount of content users can upload to a site. …
Cable Provider Cox Communications Loses DMCA Immunity
What is DMCA? The DMCA provides Internet service providers with immunity from copyright infringement claims based on content uploaded by users. The immunity, known as a “DMCA safe harbor,” represents a key element of the legal foundation allowing the web to operate in the current fashion. The fact a court has ruled Cox Communications loses …
Multiple Company DMCA Agent Registration
The recent BWP Media v. Hollywood Fan Sites LLC et al. ruling is receiving a good bit of attention. The primary focus has been on the issue of when a DMCA Agent registration with the United States Copyright Office becomes effective. However, the court raised a secondary issue regarding multiple company DMCA agent registration that …