Civil Litigation,
Intellectual Property
Mar. 31, 2017
Inside the DMCA's black box
Does the notice and takedown system -- which limits online service providers' responsibility to police their services for copyright infringement and gives copyright holders an inexpensive way to remove infringing online material -- work?
Jennifer M. Urban
professor of law
UC Berkeley School of Law
Technology & Public Policy
342 Boalt Hall
Berkeley , CA 94720-0001
Phone: (510) 642-7338
Fax: (510) 643-4625
Email: jurban@law.berkeley.edu
Boalt Hall
Jennifer M. Urban is a clinical professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she directs the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic. With Joe Karaganis and Brianna Schofield, she is the author of "Notice and Takedown in Everyday Practice," a research report encompassing three studies: a survey-and-interview series with nearly three dozen OSPs and large copyright holders, and two statistical analyses of over 100 million takedown notices. Google Inc. and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation provided research funding and OpusData provided in-kind database support. Neither funders nor respondents directed the research in any way or reviewed any methods, data, results or reporting before public release.
The U.S. Copyright Office on March 22 accepted final public comments in its study of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA) notice and takedown process. Now close to 20 years old, the DMCA's regime is one of the longest running "takedown" systems enshrined in law, and has inspired similar regimes around the world. The Copyright Office is considering whether it has aged well and whether reform is in order.
"Notice and takedown" is shorthand for a complex set of safe harbors an...
For only $95 a month (the price of 2 article purchases)
Receive unlimited article access and full access to our archives,
Daily Appellate Report, award winning columns, and our
Verdicts and Settlements.
Or
$795 for an entire year!
Or access this article for $45
(Purchase provides 7-day access to this article. Printing, posting or downloading is not allowed.)
Already a subscriber?
Sign In