An Introduction to DMCA

The United States passed a law in 1998 – the DMCA, known as Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It regulates copyright infringements over the internet. DMCA criminalizes the act of copying the content. It does so by way of plagiarism, translating and/or remaking.

Many creative works protected by copyright need financial investment and professional skills. The production and dissemination of such work require such help. Specialized businesses or companies take upon activities like book publishing, and so on. Authors do not take it upon themselves for such work. Creators usually transfer their rights to these companies by way of contractual agreements. In return, they receive compensation.  

All common law countries practice DMCA. This is because it is a very stringent law to stop online piracy. Nowadays every business entity needs to keep track of the piracy of their content. It leads to infringement of their rights and usually results in a loss in business. 

A Takedown Notice

Earlier, if someone infringed any copyrighted work, they were sent a physical notice. This ensured that the infringer was made aware of his infringement.  But then, DMCA was introduced in the United States. From then onwards, authorities have curbed online piracy and infringements to a great extent. As the Act is a powerful tool, every common law country adopted it. This helped to curb the infringement. Some countries that did the same include the UK, India, and so on. This proved to be able to sustain in the digital market.

To enforce the rights, the owner or the creator of the work needs to send an online notice through email. It was enough to issue a takedown against the infringing content. Providing the exact URL/Link of the infringement is mandatory in this notice. Also, one should reveal the name of the owner, address and email ID while sending the notice. Before sending the notice, one should be sure that the alleged claim is legal. This is because sending false notice can have reverse repercussions.

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