OWE’s Linda Joy Kattwinkel recently participated in the Department of Commerce Multistakeholder Forum on Improving the Operation of the DMCA Notice and Takedown System that was held in Berkeley, California on May 8 as a member of the Multistakeholder working group. The working group is composed of representatives from a diverse group of organizations, including Electronic Frontier Foundation, Copyright Alliance, Google, Recording Industry Association of America, Motion Picture Association of America, and the Center for Democracy and Technology, just to name a few.
The Multistakeholder working group is tasked with gathering information on current standardization practices, identifying problems as well as best practices, and making recommendations for improving the operation of the DMCA notice and takedown system going forward.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides a safe harbor for internet service providers who remove allegedly infringing content from a website upon the request of the copyright owner when certain procedures are followed. See Linda’s Legalities article, “What can you do when your work is copied online” for more information about how copyright owners can use DMCA takedowns to protect their rights.