[a] service provider shall not be liable . . . for infringement of copyright by reason of
the storage at the direction of a user of material that resides on a system or network
controlled or operated by or for the service provider, if the service provider(A)
(i) does not have actual knowledge that the material or an activity using
the material on the system or network is infringing;(ii) in the absence of such actual knowledge, is not aware of facts or
circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent; or(iii) upon obtaining such knowledge or awareness, acts expeditiously to
remove, or disable access to, the material;(B) does not receive a financial benefit directly attributable to the infringing
activity, in a case in which the service provider has the right and ability to
control such activity; and(C) upon notification of claimed infringement as described in paragraph (3),
responds expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material that is
claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity.
[A link to a pdf version of the full text of the DMCA can be found
here
- optional]
DMCA §1201: Circumvention of copyright protection systems
(a) Violations Regarding Circumvention of Technological Measures. -
(1)
(A) No person
shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls
access
to a work protected under this title. The prohibition contained in the
preceding
sentence shall take effect at the end of the 2-year period beginning on
the date
of the enactment of this chapter.
(B) The prohibition
contained in subparagraph (A) shall not apply to persons who
are users of
a copyrighted work which is in a particular class of works, if such
persons are,
or are likely to be in the succeeding 3-year period, adversely affected
by virtue of
such prohibition in their ability to make noninfringing uses of that
particular class
of works under this title, as determined under subparagraph (C).
(C) During the
2-year period described in subparagraph (A), and during each
succeeding 3-year
period, the Librarian of Congress, upon the recommendation of
the Register
of Copyrights, who shall consult with the Assistant Secretary for
Communications
and Information of the Department of Commerce and report and
comment on his
or her views in making such recommendation, shall make the
determination
in a rulemaking proceeding on the record for purposes of
subparagraph
(B) of whether persons who are users of a copyrighted work are, or
are likely to
be in the succeeding 3-year period, adversely affected by the
prohibition
under subparagraph (A) in their ability to make noninfringing uses under
this title of
a particular class of copyrighted works. In conducting such rulemaking,
the Librarian
shall examine -
(i) the availability for use of copyrighted works;
(ii) the availability for use of works for nonprofit archival,
preservation, and educational purposes;
(iii) 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;
(iv) the effect of circumvention of technological measures on
the market for or value of copyrighted works; and
(v) such other factors as the Librarian considers appropriate.
(D) The Librarian
shall publish any class of copyrighted works for which the
Librarian has
determined, pursuant to the rulemaking conducted under
subparagraph
(C), that noninfringing uses by persons who are users of a
copyrighted
work are, or are likely to be, adversely affected, and the prohibition
contained in
subparagraph (A) shall not apply to such users with respect to such
class of works
for the ensuing 3-year period.
(E) Neither the
exception under subparagraph (B) from the applicability of the
prohibition
contained in subparagraph (A), nor any determination made in a
rulemaking conducted
under subparagraph (C), may be used as a defense in any
action to enforce
any provision of this title other than this paragraph.
(2) No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide,
or
otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device, component,
or
part thereof, that -
(A) is primarily
designed or produced for the purpose of
circumventing
a technological measure that effectively controls
access to a
work protected under this title;
(B) has only
limited commercially significant purpose or use
other than to
circumvent a technological measure that effectively
controls access
to a work protected under this title; or
(C) is marketed
by that person or another acting in concert
with that person
with that person's knowledge for use in
circumventing
a technological measure that effectively controls
access to a
work protected under this title.
(3) As used in this subsection -
(A) to ''circumvent
a technological measure'' means to
descramble a
scrambled work, to decrypt an encrypted work, or
otherwise to
avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, or impair a
technological
measure, without the authority of the copyright
owner; and
(B) a technological
measure ''effectively controls access to a
work'' if the
measure, in the ordinary course of its operation,
requires the
application of information, or a process or a
treatment, with
the authority of the copyright owner, to gain
access to the
work.
[A link to a pdf version of the full text of the DMCA can be found here - optional]