Client Alert: DMCA Safe Harbor Protection. Action Required by December 31, 2017.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the “DMCA”) provided a “safe harbor” to shield online service providers from certain copyright infringement claims based on user generated content (“UGC”). To be entitled to the safe harbor for UGC, you have always had to register your DMCA agent information with the Copyright Office, listing your website, contact information and the name of an individual agent so that copyright owners could notify you of infringing UGC on your website. This was previously accomplished by sending in a printed form to the Copyright Office.  In order to continue to receive the DMCA safe harbor protections, you must now register (or-register) using the Copyright Office’s new online DMCA registration system by December 31, 2017.  The cost is just $6 per registration, and the registration can be filed at https://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/.  Note that all registrations must be renewed every three years.

Please contact us if you have any questions or need additional assistance.