U.S. Copyright Office: DMCA Is “Tilted Askew,” Recommends Remedies for Rightsholders; JDSupra, August 7, 2020

Aylin Kuzucan, Fenwick & West LLP, JDSupra; U.S. Copyright Office: DMCA Is “Tilted Askew,” Recommends Remedies for Rightsholders

"On May 21, 2020, the U.S. Copyright Office released its first full report—based on 92,000 written comments, five roundtables and decades of case law—on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512). The analysis was intended to determine whether the DMCA’s safe harbor provisions effectively balanced the needs of online service providers and rightsholders. The Copyright Office concluded that the balance is “tilted askew,” with largely ineffective copyright infringement protections for rightsholders...

Going forward, the Copyright Office plans to post a new website—copyright.gov/DMCA—with several educational and practical elements, including model takedown notices and counter-notices. In addition, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property plans to draft changes to the DMCA by the end of 2020. Any changes made will be critical for the copyright community to monitor closely."