The DMCA provisions limiting the liability of Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) for the infringements of their users, now set forth in Section 512 of the Copyright Act, serves to protect ISP’s from the usual remedies to which a copyright owner is entitled. For example, a copyright owner whose rights have been infringed can ask the court to award monetary damages — either the amount that the owner was actually harmed, such as the value of lost sales or lost licensing revenues, or any amount within the range that the statute says an owner is entitled — depending on whether the infringer knew that what he or she was doing was wrong, or whether he/she was truly unaware and had good reason to think that the infringing actions were actually fair use. Copyright owners also are entitled to the entry of injunctions, such as court orders to confiscate infringing works, to destroy printing plates, and to stop infringing activities.
Section 512 essentially takes away from copyright owners most of the customary remedies for copyright infringement on the condition that ISP’s agree to abide by the statute’s provisions. In effect, it creates an alternative to lawsuits by which copyright owners and ISP’s may resolve alleged infringements involving copyrighted materials passing through or residing on the ISP’s servers.
Since the university provides Internet connections and the capability to place materials online to students, faculty and staff, it is an ISP under the law. Users of its service will undoubtedly perform some actions for which the law provides protection to the ISP such as copying others’ works and posting them on the users’ websites, and linking to infringing materials. On the other hand, it is also important to understand that when a university is itself the provider of infringing content, not just providing Internet service, these liability limits do not apply. For example, when a university’s own library provides links to resources and one such resource is infringing materials, the university is providing the link, not just the Internet service, and the protections of Section 512 do not apply.
Section 512 also limits an ISP’s liability for “conduit activities”, which are largely automatic activities of computers connected to the Internet. Section 512 also protects ISP’s for long-term storage of information on the university’s system or network. In this case, however, the university must register an agent to obtain the law’s protections. The university’s registered agent is Tom Courtway, General Counsel. Long-term storage includes:
1. storage at the direction of a user of material that resides on a system or network controlled or operated by or for the university; and/or
2. referring or linking users to an online location containing infringing material or infringing activity, by using information location tools, including a directory, index, reference, pointer, or hypertext link.
PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT IF AN EMPLOYEE REPEATEDLY INFRINGES THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS, HIS/HER SERVICE WILL BE TERMINATED.
Section 512 also protects ISP’s when they take material down, based on an allegation of infringement or knowledge of facts or circumstances from which infringement is apparent, or put it back up, based on an assertion of misidentification or mistake on the complainant’s part.