Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (2008) is federal law that heightens copyright infringement penalties at the civil and criminal level. Copyright infringement violates one or more exclusive rights of the copyright owner as outlined by 17 USC 106. In accordance with the 17 USC 512, DBU has a designated agent to receive all infringement notices. Please contact dmca@dbu.edu  with any questions or concerns.

Takedown Notice

Section 512 of the Copyright Act allows infringed online content to be removed without litigation when certain conditions are met. If you believe your works have been infringed upon by a DBU student, employee, or any domain owned by the University, you may submit a Takedown Notice to dmca@dbu.edu. A copyright registration is not required to send a takedown notice. A sample notice of copyright infringement provided by copyright.gov is available to download. You must include the following details in your notice:

1. Identify the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed upon. If multiple works, please list all works.
2. Identify the infringing material or activity with a reference or link to locate such material that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled.
3. Physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or an authorized agent.
4. Contract information for the copyright owner or authorized agent so that DBU can contact the complaining party.
5. A statement of a good faith belief that the use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement that the information in the notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the person sending the notice is authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

When a Takedown Notice is received by the designated agent for the University, the complaint will be reviewed. If the complaint is validated and the offender is identified, the alleged offender’s access to the DBU network will be suspended immediately until all infringed upon material is removed. The alleged offender will be notified that his/her access has been removed and that the infringed upon material will also be removed. If this is the first offense, the access to DBU’s network will be restored after confirming with the designated agent that the infringed upon material has been removed and a statement of acknowledgment has been signed by the offender. If this is a repeated offense, additional sanctions may be enforced according to DBU’s DMCA Compliance Policy. If your complaint is dismissed, you will receive an email from dmca@dbu.edu with the determination reasoning.

Counter-Notice

If the alleged offender believes he/she was misidentified or that the material in question was removed by mistake, he/she may submit a counter-notice requesting reinstatement of the material to dmca@dbu.edu. A sample counter-notice provided by copyright.gov is available to download. In a counter-notice, you must include the following details:

1. Identify the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
2. A statement under penalty of perjury that the user has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a mistake or misidentification.
3. The user’s name, address, telephone number, and statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
4. A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.

Once a counter-notice has been submitted, DBU will restore access to the material after no less than 10 and no more than 14 business days, unless the original notice sender informs DBU that it has filed a court action against the user. Remember, to sue for copyright infringement, the author must have a copyright registration.  

DBU has the right to remove or disable access to material because of “facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent.” This is known as red flag knowledge. DBU is not required to notify users of this removal or disabling of access as a condition of its safe harbor.