[WEB4LIB] Re: Digital Millenium Copyright Act implications f

[Gerald M. Furi]

Good morning, everyone

There is a silver cloud of sorts: the DMCA provides a "safe harbor" for
libraries from damages arising out of prosecution for digital copyright
violation (albeit academic institutions are somewhat more vulnerable).

Such damages and fees can be substantial: because a federal court is
involved, I've heard minimum estimates of +$25k.

If I understand correctly (and trickle-down infallibility has not yet
reached my level, for sure!), the copyright violations in question do not
originate in this Act per se, and litigation for such breaches could be
brought prior to the Act. What is distressing is that an entire industry of
"agents" is created by this Act, and we must engage these agents (and they
certainly are not doing this pro bono) and post the appropriate notices to
avoid paying a ton of money in lawsuits. We have created an excessively
litigious society, and greedy folks may find us tempting targets.

Ain't techonology grand?!

Gerald M. Furi
Asst. Director, Farmington Community Library
Project Manager, Metro Net Library Consortium
http://www.metronet.lib.mi.us/fcl.html

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org]On Behalf Of CMUNSON
Sent: Thursday, February 04, 1999 12:04 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Re: Digital Millenium Copyright Act implications f


How about fighting back against this obscene assault on public domain
works? Isn't that what we should be doing instead of being copyright cops
for Disney?

Chuck0

Spunk Library
www.spunk.org


______________________________ Reply Separator
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Subject: [WEB4LIB] Digital Millenium Copyright Act implications for l
Author:  Michael Piper <mpiper at tsl.state.tx.us> at Internet
Date:    2/2/99 1:14 PM


Dear Colleagues:

We've been studying the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which
was signed into law on October 28, 1998.

DMCA says inadvertently helping someone violate copyright laws is
"vicarious" or "contributory" infringement, even if the materials were
posted illegally by someone else. DMCA also sets a limitation on the
potential money damages online service providers can accrue when they
allow access to copyrighted material someone else placed online.

Have any of you taken - or do you plan to take - the steps outlined in
DMCA to protect against copyright liability? These steps include:

*       Appointing a designated agent to receive notices from copyright
owners.

*       Providing users with information about copyright laws.

*       Developing and posting a policy for termination of repeat
offenders.

*       Complying with "take down" and "put back" notice requirements.

*       Accommodating industry-standard technical measures - "digital
watermarks" for instance - used by owners to protect their works.

*       Paying a $20 fee to the Copyright Office.

We'd like to benefit from your expertise, so I welcome your comments on
this issue. Thank you for your consideration.

PS For more on the DMCA, see http://www.ala.org/washoff/osp.html.

Note: this message has been posted on multiple lists. Please excuse any
inconvenience.

**********
**********
Michael Piper, Director
Library Resource Sharing Division
Texas State Library and Archives Commission Box
12927
Austin TX     78711-2927
Voice: 512/463-7402     Fax: 512/936-2306
michael.piper at tsl.state.tx.us