Digital Millennium Copyright Action "Takedown" Provisions
The digital form and broad availability of Works which appear on the Internet has made copying of such Works a few mouse clicks away on most computers. As a result, infringement of Works carrying copyrights is now pervasive. Fortunately, artists have been provided with a remedy for such infringement since enactment of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998), and particularly its "safe harbor" provisions applying to "transitory digital network communications" of Internet service providers at 17 U.S.C. §512.
Under the safe harbor provisions, a service provider is relieved of liability for infringement if otherwise infringing material is transmitted upon initiation by a person other than the provider, by automatic process without selection of the material by the provider, to a recipient as an automatic response to the recipient's request for material, without retention of copies by the provider, and the material is transmitted without modification.
Other conditions must be met by service providers to avoid liability under the safe harbor provision of 17 U.S.C. §512. However, of particular interest to artists is the requirement that the service provider act expeditiously to remove infringing material upon obtaining knowledge of infringement, in combination with the requirement that the provider designate an agent to receive notification of infringing material on its website, and at the U.S. Copyright Office. A list of such agents may be found at: http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/
Semiconductors and Mask Works
Rights to original semiconductor chip products and mask works are controlled by Federal law applying specifically to such products as Works under the Copyright Act (as well as patent law). 17 U.S.C. §901 - §914 prohibits unauthorized reproduction or importation of masks works, provides for registration of mask work claims, specifies penalties for infringment of mask works, and authorizes the Treasury and Post Office to enforce mask work rights.
Sound Recordings and Music Videos
Closely related to an author's or artist's copyright is a performer's performance right. Under 17 U.S.C. § 1101, one cannot "fix" sound or sound and images of a live musical performance in a copy or phono record, or reproduce copies of such fixed performances, or transmit or distribute copies of such fixed performances, without the consent of the performer.
Copyright Circumvention and Management Systems
Circumvention of technological measures which control access to a Work (so called copyright "protection" systems) is prohibited under 17 U.S.C. §1201, as is most manufacture, importation, providing or offering to provide, or trafficking in, any technology, product, service, device, component, or part that is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing such measures.
"Circumventing" consists of descrambling a scrambled Work, decrypting an encrypted Work, or otherwise avoiding, bypassing, removing, deactivating, or impairing a technological measure without the authority of the copyright owner.
Exceptions to the prohibition include certain acts of reverse engineering, encryption research, development for the protection of minors, avoidance of dissemination of personal information, and security testing. Notably, 17 U.S.C. § 1201 also requires copy control technology be incorporated into VHS, 8mm, Beta, and NTSC format video recorders sold in the U.S. after April 28, 2000.
Under 17 U.S.C. §1201, providing false copyright management information, and intentially removing or altering such information intending to facilitate infringement, or knowing that such information has been removed, is prohibited.
Original Designs
Products of the Mind and Moral Rights
Rights to invention, literature, and art in California are controlled by state law as well as Federal law under appropriate circumstances. For instance, California Civil Code §980 - §989 applies to original works of authorship not fixed in any tangible medium of expression, publication of private writings, residual royalties for artists in the sale of fine art, preservation of fine art against alteration, and separate transfer of ownership in physical works of fine art in writing upon conveyance of other rights in such works.