United StatesDigital Millennium Copyright Act, integrity of copyright management information
In force since .
A copyright and text and data mining (TDM) rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Attribution
As of .
What it requires
- Do not intentionally remove or alter copyright management information, meaning the title, the names of the author and copyright owner, the copyright notice and the terms and conditions for use, on works you copy, unless the copyright owner or the law authorizes it.
- Do not distribute, import for distribution or publicly perform works or copies, or distribute the information itself, knowing that copyright management information has been removed or altered without authority; for works and copies the text also requires that you know, or for civil remedies have reasonable grounds to know, that doing so will induce, enable, facilitate or conceal an infringement.
- Do not provide or distribute false copyright management information with the intent to induce, enable, facilitate or conceal infringement.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
A willful violation for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain is punishable by a fine of up to $500,000 or up to 5 years in prison, or both, for a first offense, and by a fine of up to $1,000,000 or up to 10 years in prison, or both, for a subsequent offense (17 U.S.C. § 1204(a)).
What this law does
Section 1202(b) prohibits, without the authority of the copyright owner or the law, intentionally removing or altering any copyright management information. It also prohibits distributing or importing for distribution copyright management information, and distributing, importing for distribution or publicly performing works or copies, knowing that the information has been removed or altered without authority.
The paragraph on distributing works or copies whose information has been removed or altered ends with a requirement that the person know, or for civil remedies have reasonable grounds to know, that the act will induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal an infringement. Section 1202(a) prohibits knowingly providing, or distributing or importing for distribution, false copyright management information with the intent to induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal infringement.
Section 1202(c) defines copyright management information as certain information conveyed in connection with copies or performances of a work, and excludes personally identifying information about a user. The definition includes the title and other information identifying the work, the names of the author and the copyright owner, the information on a notice of copyright, and the terms and conditions for use of the work.
Section 1203 lets any person injured by a violation of section 1202 bring a civil action in federal district court. A complaining party may elect statutory damages of not less than $2,500 or more than $25,000 for each violation of section 1202. Section 1204 punishes a willful violation for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain with a fine of not more than $500,000 or imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both, for a first offense.
The criminal penalty does not apply to a nonprofit library, archives, educational institution, or public broadcasting entity. Section 1202 was added to the Copyright Act on . The effective date of the chapter that contains it is .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app crawls the web, trains models or reuses other publishers' content.