2. The Copyright Act
Copyright law grants specific rights to the author or
creator of an original work.
These rights include:
The right to reproduce (copy)
The right to create derivative works of the original work,
The right to sell, lease, or rent copies of the work to the
public,
The right to perform the work
The right to display the work publicly
And most recently, the right to perform a sound recording
by means of digital audio
3. The Copyright Act
Copyright law also provides some limits to an
author’s exclusive control of a copyrighted work.
These limits are commonly known as the “Fair Use
Doctrine”
The law provides that “the fair use of a copyrighted
work, including such use by reproduction in copies . .
. for purposes such as criticism, comment, news
reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for
classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an
infringement of copyright.”
4. The Copyright Act
Originally copyright was limited the copying of books.
Over time other works were given copyright
protection and copyright law today cover a wide
range of works, including maps, dramatic works,
paintings, photographs, sound recordings, motion
pictures and computer programs.
As copyright protection expanded to cover new
forms of expression the ability to infringe on
copyright protection also grew. New technologies in
turn made it easier to illegally reproduce and
disseminate copyrighted materials.
5. The Digital Age
Today, those new technologies also give authors and
creators the unique ability to digitally “lock” their content.
Time stamps, Content Scrambling Systems (CSS) and
other security software has allowed copyright holders to
aggressively pursue their Digital Rights Management
(DRM) to protect their copyrighted material from data
“pirates.”
But technology continues to move forward and for every
new digital “locking” software someone, somewhere
creates a digital “key” that allows access to that protected
content.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was written to
protect the author’s or creator’s ability to “lock” their
content.
6. Digital Millennium Copyright Act of
1998
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was
signed into law by President Clinton on October 28,
1998, amending the 1976 Copyright Act.
Section 1201 of this act makes it a violation of
copyright law to circumvent any technological
measures used by copyright owners to protect their
works.
Section 1201 contains two distinct prohibitions:
a ban on acts of circumvention, and
a ban on the distribution of tools and technologies
used for circumvention.
7. What does DMCA mean?
The ban on acts of circumvention, for example,
would make it unlawful to defeat the encryption
system used on DVD movies. As a result, it would
be unlawful to make a digital copy ("rip") of a DVD
you have purchased for playback on your iPod. Even
though under fair use this would be permissible.
The tools prohibitions outlaws the manufacture,
sale, distribution, or trafficking of tools and
technologies that make that circumvention possible.
8. What does DMCA mean?
In essence, the DMCA created two “new” rights for
copyright holders that allowed them to “lock”
copyrighted content such as music, video, and
software and to prevent technology to circumvent
these locks from being created and distributed.
But what about the established doctrine of fair use?
The DMCA does include the statement “Nothing in
this section (1201) shall affect rights, remedies,
limitations or defenses to copyright infringement,
including fair use, under this title.”
9. What does DMCA mean?
To accommodate those types of protected uses the
DMCA mandates a triennial Rulemaking procedure
intended to provide exemptions to the law for legitimate
uses.
“During this procedure, the public and other interested
parties have the opportunity to present arguments for the
creation of exemptions. Opponents also have the
opportunity to respond to these arguments. The Register
of Copyrights and the Copyright Office make a report with
recommendations about which exemptions should be
made. The Librarian of Congress makes his or her
decision about the exemptions. These exemptions last
three years. “ source Copythisblog 26-July-10
10. What does DMCA mean?
This procedure considers four criteria:
The availability for use of copyrighted works;
The availability for use of works for nonprofit archival,
preservation, and educational purposes;
The impact that the prohibition on the circumvention of
technological measures applied to copyrighted works has
on criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching,
scholarship, or research;
The effect of circumvention of technological measures on
the market for or value of copyrighted works; and
Such other factors as the Librarian considers appropriate.
Federal Register, Vol.145 , No. 143
11. What does DMCA mean?
The latest review was completed in July 2010 and
six classes of exemptions were adopted.
Motion pictures on DVD
Cell phone applications
Cell phone handsets
Video games
Computer programs protected by dongles
Ebooks
12. Classes of Exemption
Motion Pictures
(1) Motion pictures on DVDs that are lawfully made and
acquired and that are protected by the Content
Scrambling System when circumvention is accomplished
solely in order to accomplish the incorporation of short
portions of motion pictures into new works for the
purpose of criticism or comment, and where the person
engaging in circumvention believes and has reasonable
grounds for believing that circumvention is necessary to
fulfill the purpose of the use in the following instances:
(i) Educational uses by college and university professors
and by college and university film and media studies
students;
(ii) Documentary filmmaking;
(iii) Noncommercial videos. U.S. Copyright Office
13. What does it mean?
Excerpts of films can be used at colleges and
universities by faculty in all academic programs and
students in film and media studies programs.
Video artists can create “mashups” as long as they
aren’t used commercially.
Copyright protection software can be bypassed “for
the purpose of criticism or comment.”
14. Classes of Exemption
Cell Phone Applications
(2) Computer programs that enable wireless
telephone handsets to execute software
applications, where circumvention is accomplished
for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of
such applications, when they have been lawfully
obtained, with computer programs on the telephone
handset.
U.S. Copyright Office
15. What does it mean?
This exemption is referred to as the first iPhone
jailbreaking exemption.
Apple cannot legally prevent iPhone users from
jailbreaking their phones to run non-Apple software
and cannot seek punitive damages.
Apple does not have to support jailbroken phones.
16. Classes of Exemption
Cell Phone Handsets
(3) Computer programs, in the form of firmware or
software, that enable used wireless telephone
handsets to connect to a wireless
telecommunications network, when circumvention is
initiated by the owner of the copy of the computer
program solely in order to connect to a wireless
telecommunications network and access to the
network is authorized by the operator of the network.
U.S. Copyright Office
17. What does it mean?
This is referred to as the second iPhone jailbreaking
exemption.
Users can unlock their phones in order to use a
different carrier.
Apple can void warranties and support for jailbroken
phones.
18. Classes of Exemption
Video Games
(4) Video games accessible on personal computers and
protected by technological protection measures that
control access to lawfully obtained works, when
circumvention is accomplished solely for the purpose of
good faith testing for, investigating, or correcting security
flaws or vulnerabilities, if:
(i) The information derived from the security testing is
used primarily to promote the security of the owner or
operator of a computer, computer system, or computer
network; and
(ii) The information derived from the security testing is
used or maintained in a manner that does not facilitate
copyright infringement or a violation of applicable law.
U.S. Copyright Office
19. What does it mean?
DRM protection for video games can be bypassed
for security testing by owners of computer hardware.
Users cannot make use of findings from security
testing to violate existing copyright laws.
20. Classes of Exemption
Computer Programs protected by Dongles
(5) Computer programs protected by dongles that
prevent access due to malfunction or damage and
which are obsolete. A dongle shall be considered
obsolete if it is no longer manufactured or if a
replacement or repair is no longer reasonably
available in the commercial marketplace; and
(Definition of a dongle )
U.S. Copyright Office
21. What does it mean?
If replacements for the dongles are no longer
available, the programs they were protecting are
open for use.
22. Classes of Exemption
Ebooks
(6) Literary works distributed in ebook format when
all existing ebook editions of the work (including
digital text editions made available by authorized
entities) contain access controls that prevent the
enabling either of the book’s read-aloud function or
of screen readers that render the text into a
specialized format.
U.S. Copyright Office
23. What does it mean?
Readers can enable the “read aloud” feature of an
ebook reader.
Screen readers can deliver the text from ebooks into
alternate formats such as larger print formats.
24. Important things to remember
The Rulemaking procedure mandated by DMCA
occurs every three years. It is Your responsibility to
be aware of any changes before you assume that
the current exemptions are still applicable.
Fair use guidelines still apply to the unlocked
content! DMCA exemptions apply only to the ability
to circumvent the locking features of the software; it
does not exempt the material from its original
copyright protection.
For more information on Fair Use see “Copyright in
the Classroom.”
25. Copyright is the Law
This presentation has provided some broad outlines
of DMCA and fair use exceptions.
When there is any doubt that your intended use falls
under the listed exemptions of DMCA or is “fair use,”
it is the obligation of the user (you) to get legal
counsel or to pursue purchasing the rights to the
materials in question through your department.
Nothing in this presentation should be construed
as legal advice. These guidelines are simply that
and in no way guarantee exemption from
infringement.
26. Sources Used for this Presentation include:
United States Copyright Office
United States Copyright Office, Rulemaking on
Anticircumvention
Copythisblog, Legal Circumvention, July 10, 2010
Federal Register. Vol. 75, No. 143. Tuesday, July
27, 2010, Rules and Regulations.
