The DMCA also provides some protection for a service provider that has infringing material stored on its system or network—including hosting a Web site—at the direction of a user. The service provider is protected when it does not have the right and ability to control the infringing activity, and it did not have actual knowledge that the material or the activity using the material on the network was infringing. If the service provider can control the infringing activity, the protections apply if it does not receive a financial benefit due to the infringing activity. Should the service provider receive notice that infringing materials are on its system or network, it must remove or block access to that material.[1]
Designated Agent, and Notice and Takedown
The service provider is protected under section 512(c) only if it has filed with the Copyright Office the name and contact information for its designated agent, someone who can receive complaints from copyright owners.[2] Neither Congress nor the Copyright Office specifies what role the designated agent must have in your organization. A university, for example, may appoint its director of information technology, a law firm its managing partner, a public library its chief librarian, and a corporation its general counsel. It’s totally up to you.
Protection under the DMCA is conditional on having a designated agent, so if your library is independent, you must choose one and file their contact information with the Copyright Office. If your parent institution handles DMCA complaints for the library, be sure you know who your institution’s agent is.
The designated agent will receive complaints from copyright owners, such as a poet who discovers her poem on your Web site, or that your Web site links to an infringing copy of her poem. Section 512(c) also spells out the required elements of notification of a claimed infringement, including that the notification must (1) be in writing with a physical or electronic signature; (2) identify the infringing work or materials; (3) include information on how to contact the complainant; and (4) include statements that the complainant has authority to act on behalf of the copyright owner, has
