Disney, Microsoft, Viacom and Others Common Sense Approach to Copyright Violations
In several of our speaking engagements, we’ve heard the same question repeated:
“Following our lawyers’ interpretation of the DMCA, we don’t remove any content until the copyright holder contacts us. You say that is a weak defense against copyright lawsuits. Why?”
And our answers always come back the same:
“Do you make any money from ads or other offers on your site which are visible from the page showing the copyrighted materials uploaded by your members? If so, you may have a problem.”
And then we’d go round and round with each other, citing specific examples and whether they violate the act or not. The stance we’ve always taken is to be pro-active and remove it if you are making money from that page. We recommend that you remove it before someone asks because over time, you become a great target for a lawsuit.
Well, now many of the larger copyright holders are telling the world the same thing. On Thursday, October 18th a consortium including Disney, Microsoft, Fox, NBC Universal, CBS, and Viacom entered into a pact which sends a strong message to all of us who host sites that allow user generated content. In essence, this group is moving forward with clarifying the rules of engagement in the WWW war over copyrighted materials. Here is the statement from the Wall Street Journal’s article on the announcement that stands out:
” The copyright holders in the group have agreed not to pursue Internet companies for infringement claims if their sites adhere to certain principles. Those principles include eliminating copyright-infringing content uploaded by users to Web sites, and blocking any infringing material before it is publicly accessible.”
This group is promoting the idea that site owners have some responsibility to review what their users are uploading. The group is looking for firms to simply make their best efforts to remove the copyrighted material in a prompt manner. And from our view of the world, that make sense if you want to avoid getting tied up in court and spending a bucketload of money to defend your site…See our blog entry on the costs of getting served papers for this type of lawsuit.
But of course, we are biased. We help firms moderate their user generated content and firmly believe that the DMCA is so full of ambiguous wording that the best defense in this area is a good moderation strategy. Want to discuss this further? Post a comment or contact us.
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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 20th, 2007 at 10:30 pm and is filed under Best Practices, Social Media Industry. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
2 Responses to “Disney, Microsoft, Viacom and Others Common Sense Approach to Copyright Violations”
Impact Interactions says: Hi Jonathan,
You bring up a great point about the DMCA being written prior to anyone envisioning the explosion of sites like Youtube, Facebook, and MySpace. The DMCA needs to be updated, but then given the bureaucrats debate of issues, it may take a couple of years to achieve. And then the cycle will start again… but it needs to happen prior to SCOTUS getting involved.
Mike
I think the problem with the DMCA is that it was written between 1996 and 1998. The terms and rules it used fit the way the Internet worked back then, but with the rise of UGC in the modern age, it leaves a lot of room for confusion.
The DMCA likely needs to be updated to reflect the changes on the Web and, if it isn’t, then expect SCOTUS to step in and say something (only God knows what).
One of the problems with the DMCA was that it encouraged hosts to be as hands off as possible. The less you knew and less involved you were in what was posted, the better off you were.
But, once again, the DMCA didn’t easily envision sites such as YouTube that made a living off of UGC.
So, for sites that make money off of their UGC, you’re probably right. Other hosts though are likely better adhering to the DMCA to the letter.
I’m now a lawyer, but that’s what I’ve pulled from this mess…q