Legal Issues: Copyright Office to Consider DMCA Exemptions
Information Today, Vol 26, No 3, p. 13, March 2009
3 Pages Posted: 11 Oct 2013
Date Written: March 1, 2009
Abstract
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, enacted in 1998, includes a controversial provision which prohibits the circumvention of DRM systems by users of copyrighted content. The penalty for a violation of this section can be up to $500,000 and 5 years in prison. Critics of this provision saw it as creating even more difficulty for and intimidation of those who want to exercise their fair use and other access rights.
However, the DMCA permits the U.S. Copyright Office to implement exemptions for “users of copyrighted works” who are “adversely affected in their ability to make noninfringing uses” of those works. This process occurs every three years, and late December 2008 saw the publication of the Copyright Office’s most recent list of possible exemptions.
Keywords: DMCA, Copyright, Exemptions
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation