U.S. Copyright Office Section 512 Study: Comments in Response to Second Notice of Inquiry

Abstract

These comments were prepared and submitted in response to the U.S. Copyright Office's November 8, 2016 Notice of Inquiry requesting additional public comment on the impact and effectiveness of the DMCA safe harbor provisions in Section 512 of Title 17. Our comments are responsive to half of the topics raised in the second NOI, including (1) the advisability of making content filtering or "notice and staydown" a condition for safe harbor eligibility; (2) the importance of considering the impact of potential modifications to the safe harbors on individuals and the general public; (3) the availability of objective, reliable methods for assessing the effectiveness of the safe harbors; (4) the advisability of treating Internet access providers differently from other covered providers with respect to the DMCA's requirement of account termination for "repeat infringers;" (5) the government's role in encouraging the adoption by online intermediaries of voluntary measures that supplement those required by the DMCA; and (6) the impact of recent judicial decisions on the soundness and effectiveness of the safe harbor framework.

Keywords: copyright, DMCA, notice and takedown, safe harbors, content regulation, filtering, online intermediaries