New Media Rights asks for legislative reform in comments to Copyright Office's DMCA Section 512 study

The DMCA Section 512 is a critical protection for internet-based services large and small against copyright claims based on user infringement.  However, Section 512 creates an easy, out of court process to remove speech from the internet through its notice and takedown provisions.  This process is frequently abused to remove otherwise legal content from the internet. We recently proposed legislative reforms that would address key problems with section 512, and shared our firsthand experiences with clients dealing with section 512.

We particularly want to thank our intern Erika Lee, 3L from California Western School of Law, for her work helping draft these comments.

Part 1 discusses section 512(f)'s failure to prevent copyright bullying, and the lack of clarity regarding when fair use should be considered before sending a takedown notice, and proposes specific legislative reforms to address these issues.

Part 2 focuses on the problems of large copyright holder intimidation, as well as the vast errors that occur with automated takedowns.