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safe harbor

Thoughts on the Copyright Alert System

Submitted by New Media Rights on Thu, 07/07/2011 - 09:03

UPDATE: Added mention of the $35 appeal fee in the “Appeals” section below.

Today, major ISPs joined the RIAA and MPAA in announcing a joint program to deal with file-sharing. The document governing this agreement, a “Copyright Alert System,” is hosted here. Public Knowledge and the Center for Democracy and Technology issued a joint statement on the CAS, available here.

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COICA v. 2.0: the PROTECT IP Act

Submitted by New Media Rights on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 07:45

The Senate is gearing up for another go-round on rogue websites legislation, and this time, they've jettisoned the "COICA" label in favor of calling it the "PROTECT IP Act." Like a summer blockbuster sequel, it tightens up some things, adds a few new villains, but in the end reprises the same general plot.

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Sheet Music Domain Goes Down Over Bogus Copyright Claim

Submitted by New Media Rights on Fri, 04/22/2011 - 11:56

Yesterday, IMSLP, a website dedicated to archiving public domain sheet music lost its domain name due to a complaint sent by the UK’s Music Publishers Association to the site’s registrar, GoDaddy. The notice incorrectly claimed that IMSLP’s copy of Rachmaninoff’s The Bells infringed copyright. (Coverage by TorrentFreak, Michael Geist, and BoingBoing.)

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YouTube's victory over Viacom reinforces DMCA safe harbor protections for websites

Submitted by Sarah on Fri, 07/02/2010 - 11:34

On June 23, Viacom's claim for $1 billion in damages was shot down when the District Court for the Southern District of New York found YouTube and its owner Googlei not liable for copyright infringement in a much-anticipated decision. The two corporate giants have been at it since 2007, when Viacom joined with other plaintiffs including Paramount Pictures and sued YouTube, claiming that the online video service was legally responsible for copyright infringement when users posted clips of copyrighted material, including The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, owned by plaintiffs.

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Veoh triumphs over Universal Music in lawsuit on social media liability, gives lesson in the DMCA safe harbor

art neill's picture
Submitted by art neill on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 09:31

"Jump on the Social Media Bandwagon" by Matt Hamm, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial 2.0. It is uncertain whether Veoh will be a major player in the future of online video. There is little doubt, however, that it has had a significant role in defining the boundaries of social media liability.

Veoh's victories against IoGroup and Universal Music have helped provide a model for social media and web 2.0 services in protecting themselves from liability.

Veoh's newest triumph is getting the district court to grant summary judgement that it is "entitled to the section 512(c) safe harbor."

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Ninth Circuit Amends Barnes v. Yahoo! Decision, Addresses Concerns Raised by Yahoo! and Amici

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California AB 632 - misguided legislation would overburden social media and undermine user privacy

art neill's picture
Submitted by art neill on Wed, 04/08/2009 - 11:26

The California Legislature is considering a bill from Assemblymember Davis regarding "Internet-based social networking: privacy" that is wrong for social media websites large and small, and does little to protect their users. The Assembly Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media passed a slightly improved version of the bill on March 31, 2009 (5 to 3), which means it is on to the Judiciary Committee, where it hopefully will be stopped.

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A citizen's legal guide to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA)

Submitted by New Media Rights on Thu, 11/01/2007 - 15:27
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