DMCA Takedowns Under the Microscope

-- By BrianS - 24 Mar 2010

Introduction: Section 512(c)

I have previously noted that the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions changed the penumbras of copyright law significantly. So too, however, has the DMCA's takedown provision, 17 U.S.C. section 512(c), modified the playing field for content owners, content creators, and content hosts. Under section 512(c), content owners can send notifications to ISPs requesting that they remove user-generated or user-uploaded content on the ISP's site because the content allegedly infringes U.S. copyright law. The requirements for the notifications are specific but not the focus of this essay. See Brian Sites, Takedown paper? (discussing section 512(c) in the abstract and suggesting revisions). Instead, this essay examines the actual use of section 512(c) in the wild.

The Problem with Repeating

The Unblinking Eye

Conclusion

Sources to Integrate:

EFF's Takedown Hall of Shame

Ars Technica - ContentID Filter, the new takedown supernotice?

Viacom - We Goofed on that Takedown with Colbert...

What fair use? Three strikes and you're out... of YouTube

YouTube's January Fair Use Massacre

Google's submission on 92A

Report on DMCA take down notices