Define Digital Millennium Copyright Act

New acts, laws, limitations, and regulations are constantly being created and implemented to relate to new technology.  Copyright infringement is more difficult to manage with music downloads, YouTube, and the ease of copying and sharing your electronic information. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is part of regulating this new technology.

According to the government's official copyright webpage, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act "amended the United States Copyright Act, Title 17 of the U.S. Code, to provide in part certain limitations on the liability of online service providers for copyright infringement."

What Does That Mean?

The University of California, Los Angeles, provides a list of the provisions set forth by these rules. The Millennium Copyright Act means the following:

• People cannot find ways to go around anti-piracy measures.
• The manufacture, sale, and distribution of code-cracking devices to illegally copy software are all illegal.
• The cracking of copyright protection services is allowed, if it is being used for testing of computer security systems, assessing product interoperability, and conducting encryption research.
• Internet services providers are limited from copyright infringement liability
• Exemptions from anti-circumvention provisions for archives, non profit libraries, and educational institutions are available in some instances.
• Service providers cannot have information on their website that are examples of copyright infringement.
• Webcasters must pay licensing fees to record companies whose music they are using.
• The liability of nonprofit institutions or higher education is limited.
• The Register of Copyrights must follow certain stipulations.

In the document, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it states that "[n]othing in this section shall affect rights, remedies, limitations, or defenses to copyright infringement, including fair use."

If you are very serious about knowing the exact rules about what you can and cannot do, you should consult with the government copyright website.