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sections 502 through 505, and the remedy provided by subsection
(b) of this section; and
(2) When an action is brought by a party identified in
subsection (d) of section 501, the remedies provided by sections
502 and 505, together with any actual damages suffered by such
party as a result of the infringement, and the remedy provided by
subsection (b) of this section.
(b) In any action filed pursuant to section 111(c)(3), the court
may decree that, for a period not to exceed thirty days, the cable
system shall be deprived of the benefit of a statutory license for
one or more distant signals carried by such cable system.
-SOURCE-
(Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2587;
Pub. L. 106-113, div. B, Sec. 1000(a)(9) [title I, Sec. 1011(a)(1),
(3)], Nov. 29, 1999, 113 Stat. 1536, 1501A-543.)
-MISC1-
HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
Section 509(b) specifies a new discretionary remedy for
alteration of programming by cable systems in violation of section
111(c)(3): the court in such cases may decree that, "for a period
not to exceed thirty days, the cable system shall be deprived of
the benefit of a compulsory license for one or more distant signals
carried by such cable system." The term "distant signals" in this
provision is intended to have a meaning consistent with the
definition of "distant signal equivalent" in section 111.
Under section 509(a), four types of plaintiffs are entitled to
bring an action in cases of alteration of programming by cable
systems in violation of section 111(c)(3). For regular copyright
owners and local broadcaster-licensees, the full battery of
remedies for infringement would be available. The two new classes
of potential plaintiffs under section 501(d) - the distant-signal
transmitter and other local stations - would be limited to the
following remedies: (i) discretionary injunctions; (ii)
discretionary costs and attorney's fees; (iii) any actual damages
the plaintiff can prove were attributable to the act of altering
program content; and (iv) the new discretionary remedy of
suspension of compulsory licensing.
AMENDMENTS
1999 - Pub. L. 106-113, Sec. 1000(a)(9) [title I, Sec.
1011(a)(1)], substituted "programming" for "programing" in section
catchline.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 106-113, Sec. 1000(a)(9) [title I, Sec.
1011(a)(3)], substituted "statutory" for "compulsory".
-SECREF-
SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS
This section is referred to in sections 111, 119, 122, 411, 511
of this title.
-End-
-CITE-
17 USC Sec. 511 01/19/04
-EXPCITE-
TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
CHAPTER 5 - COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND REMEDIES
-HEAD-
Sec. 511. Liability of States, instrumentalities of States, and
State officials for infringement of copyright
-STATUTE-
(a) In General. - Any State, any instrumentality of a State, and
any officer or employee of a State or instrumentality of a State
acting in his or her official capacity, shall not be immune, under
the Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution of the United States or
under any other doctrine of sovereign immunity, from suit in
Federal court by any person, including any governmental or
nongovernmental entity, for a violation of any of the exclusive
rights of a copyright owner provided by sections 106 through 122,
for importing copies of phonorecords in violation of section 602,
or for any other violation under this title.
(b) Remedies. - In a suit described in subsection (a) for a
violation described in that subsection, remedies (including
remedies both at law and in equity) are available for the violation
to the same extent as such remedies are available for such a
violation in a suit against any public or private entity other than
a State, instrumentality of a State, or officer or employee of a
State acting in his or her official capacity. Such remedies include
impounding and disposition of infringing articles under section
503, actual damages and profits and statutory damages under section
504, costs and attorney's fees under section 505, and the remedies
provided in section 510.
-SOURCE-
(Added Pub. L. 101-553, Sec. 2(a)(2), Nov. 15, 1990, 104 Stat.
2749; amended Pub. L. 106-44, Sec. 1(g)(6), Aug. 5, 1999, 113 Stat.
222; Pub. L. 107-273, div. C, title III, Sec. 13210(4)(C), Nov. 2,
2002, 116 Stat. 1909.)
-MISC1-
AMENDMENTS
2002 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 107-273 substituted "122" for "121".
1999 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 106-44 substituted "121" for "119".
EFFECTIVE DATE
Section effective with respect to violations that occur on or
after Nov. 15, 1990, see section 3 of Pub. L. 101-553, set out as
an Effective Date of 1990 Amendment note under section 501 of this
title.
-End-
-CITE-
17 USC Sec. 512 01/19/04
-EXPCITE-
TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
CHAPTER 5 - COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND REMEDIES
-HEAD-
Sec. 512. Limitations on liability relating to material online
-STATUTE-
(a) Transitory Digital Network Communications. - A service
provider shall not be liable for monetary relief, or, except as
provided in subsection (j), for injunctive or other equitable
relief, for infringement of copyright by reason of the provider's
transmitting, routing, or providing connections for, material
through a system or network controlled or operated by or for the
service provider, or by reason of the intermediate and transient
storage of that material in the course of such transmitting,
routing, or providing connections, if -
(1) the transmission of the material was initiated by or at the
direction of a person other than the service provider;
(2) the transmission, routing, provision of connections, or
storage is carried out through an automatic technical process
without selection of the material by the service provider;
(3) the service provider does not select the recipients of the
material except as an automatic response to the request of
another person;
(4) no copy of the material made by the service provider in the
course of such intermediate or transient storage is maintained on
the system or network in a manner ordinarily accessible to anyone
other than anticipated recipients, and no such copy is maintained
on the system or network in a manner ordinarily accessible to
such anticipated recipients for a longer period than is
reasonably necessary for the transmission, routing, or provision
of connections; and
(5) the material is transmitted through the system or network
without modification of its content.
(b) System Caching. -
(1) Limitation on liability. - A service provider shall not be
liable for monetary relief, or, except as provided in subsection
(j), for injunctive or other equitable relief, for infringement
of copyright by reason of the intermediate and temporary storage
of material on a system or network controlled or operated by or
for the service provider in a case in which -
(A) the material is made available online by a person other
than the service provider;
(B) the material is transmitted from the person described in
subparagraph (A) through the system or network to a person
other than the person described in subparagraph (A) at the
direction of that other person; and
(C) the storage is carried out through an automatic technical
process for the purpose of making the material available to
users of the system or network who, after the material is
transmitted as described in subparagraph (B), request access to
the material from the person described in subparagraph (A),
if the conditions set forth in paragraph (2) are met.
(2) Conditions. - The conditions referred to in paragraph (1)
are that -
(A) the material described in paragraph (1) is transmitted to
the subsequent users described in paragraph (1)(C) without
modification to its content from the manner in which the
material was transmitted from the person described in paragraph
(1)(A);
(B) the service provider described in paragraph (1) complies
with rules concerning the refreshing, reloading, or other
updating of the material when specified by the person making
the material available online in accordance with a generally
accepted industry standard data communications protocol for the
system or network through which that person makes the material
available, except that this subparagraph applies only if those
rules are not used by the person described in paragraph (1)(A)
to prevent or unreasonably impair the intermediate storage to
which this subsection applies;
(C) the service provider does not interfere with the ability
of technology associated with the material to return to the
person described in paragraph (1)(A) the information that would
have been available to that person if the material had been
obtained by the subsequent users described in paragraph (1)(C)
directly from that person, except that this subparagraph
applies only if that technology -
(i) does not significantly interfere with the performance
of the provider's system or network or with the intermediate
storage of the material;
(ii) is consistent with generally accepted industry
standard communications protocols; and
(iii) does not extract information from the provider's
system or network other than the information that would have
been available to the person described in paragraph (1)(A) if
the subsequent users had gained access to the material
directly from that person;
(D) if the person described in paragraph (1)(A) has in effect
a condition that a person must meet prior to having access to
the material, such as a condition based on payment of a fee or
provision of a password or other information, the service
provider permits access to the stored material in significant
part only to users of its system or network that have met those
conditions and only in accordance with those conditions; and
(E) if the person described in paragraph (1)(A) makes that
material available online without the authorization of the
copyright owner of the material, the service provider responds
expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material
that is claimed to be infringing upon notification of claimed
infringement as described in subsection (c)(3), except that
this subparagraph applies only if -
(i) the material has previously been removed from the
originating site or access to it has been disabled, or a
court has ordered that the material be removed from the
originating site or that access to the material on the
originating site be disabled; and
(ii) the party giving the notification includes in the
notification a statement confirming that the material has
been removed from the originating site or access to it has
been disabled or that a court has ordered that the material
be removed from the originating site or that access to the
material on the originating site be disabled.
(c) Information Residing on Systems or Networks At Direction of
Users. -
(1) In general. - A service provider shall not be liable for
monetary relief, or, except as provided in subsection (j), for
injunctive or other equitable relief, 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.
(2) Designated agent. - The limitations on liability
established in this subsection apply to a service provider only
if the service provider has designated an agent to receive
notifications of claimed infringement described in paragraph (3),
by making available through its service, including on its website
in a location accessible to the public, and by providing to the
Copyright Office, substantially the following information:
(A) the name, address, phone number, and electronic mail
address of the agent.
(B) other contact information which the Register of
Copyrights may deem appropriate.
The Register of Copyrights shall maintain a current directory of
agents available to the public for inspection, including through
the Internet, in both electronic and hard copy formats, and may
require payment of a fee by service providers to cover the costs
of maintaining the directory.
(3) Elements of notification. -
(A) To be effective under this subsection, a notification of
claimed infringement must be a written communication provided
to the designated agent of a service provider that includes
substantially the following:
(i) A physical or electronic signature of a person
authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive
right that is allegedly infringed.
(ii) Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have
been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single
online site are covered by a single notification, a
representative list of such works at that site.
(iii) Identification of the material that is claimed to be
infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and
that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled,
and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service
provider to locate the material.
(iv) Information reasonably sufficient to permit the
service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an
address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic
mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.
(v) A statement that the complaining party has a good faith
belief that use of the material in the manner complained of
is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the
law.
(vi) A statement that the information in the notification
is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the
complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner
of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
(B)(i) Subject to clause (ii), a notification from a
copyright owner or from a person authorized to act on behalf of
the copyright owner that fails to comply substantially with the
provisions of subparagraph (A) shall not be considered under
paragraph (1)(A) in determining whether a service provider has
actual knowledge or is aware of facts or circumstances from
which infringing activity is apparent.
(ii) In a case in which the notification that is provided to
the service provider's designated agent fails to comply
substantially with all the provisions of subparagraph (A) but
substantially complies with clauses (ii), (iii), and (iv) of
subparagraph (A), clause (i) of this subparagraph applies only
if the service provider promptly attempts to contact the person
making the notification or takes other reasonable steps to
assist in the receipt of notification that substantially
complies with all the provisions of subparagraph (A).
(d) Information Location Tools. - A service provider shall not be
liable for monetary relief, or, except as provided in subsection
(j), for injunctive or other equitable relief, for infringement of
copyright by reason of the provider referring or linking users to
an online location containing infringing material or infringing
activity, by using information location tools, including a
directory, index, reference, pointer, or hypertext link, if the
service provider -
(1)(A) does not have actual knowledge that the material or
activity is infringing;
(B) in the absence of such actual knowledge, is not aware of
facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is
apparent; or
(C) upon obtaining such knowledge or awareness, acts
expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material;
(2) 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
(3) upon notification of claimed infringement as described in
subsection (c)(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, except that, for purposes of
this paragraph, the information described in subsection
(c)(3)(A)(iii) shall be identification of the reference or link,
to material or activity claimed to be infringing, that is to be
removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information
reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate
that reference or link.
(e) Limitation on Liability of Nonprofit Educational
Institutions. - (1) When a public or other nonprofit institution of
higher education is a service provider, and when a faculty member
or graduate student who is an employee of such institution is
performing a teaching or research function, for the purposes of
subsections (a) and (b) such faculty member or graduate student
shall be considered to be a person other than the institution, and
for the purposes of subsections (c) and (d) such faculty member's
or graduate student's knowledge or awareness of his or her
infringing activities shall not be attributed to the institution,
if -
(A) such faculty member's or graduate student's infringing
activities do not involve the provision of online access to
instructional materials that are or were required or recommended,
within the preceding 3-year period, for a course taught at the
institution by such faculty member or graduate student;
(B) the institution has not, within the preceding 3-year
period, received more than two notifications described in
subsection (c)(3) of claimed infringement by such faculty member
or graduate student, and such notifications of claimed
infringement were not actionable under subsection (f); and
(C) the institution provides to all users of its system or
network informational materials that accurately describe, and
promote compliance with, the laws of the United States relating
to copyright.
(2) For the purposes of this subsection, the limitations on
injunctive relief contained in subsections (j)(2) and (j)(3), but
not those in (j)(1), shall apply.
(f) Misrepresentations. - Any person who knowingly materially
misrepresents under this section -
(1) that material or activity is infringing, or
(2) that material or activity was removed or disabled by
mistake or misidentification,
shall be liable for any damages, including costs and attorneys'
fees, incurred by the alleged infringer, by any copyright owner or
copyright owner's authorized licensee, or by a service provider,
who is injured by such misrepresentation, as the result of the
service provider relying upon such misrepresentation in removing or
disabling access to the material or activity claimed to be
infringing, or in replacing the removed material or ceasing to
disable access to it.
(g) Replacement of Removed or Disabled Material and Limitation on
Other Liability. -
(1) No liability for taking down generally. - Subject to
paragraph (2), a service provider shall not be liable to any
person for any claim based on the service provider's good faith
disabling of access to, or removal of, material or activity
claimed to be infringing or based on facts or circumstances from
which infringing activity is apparent, regardless of whether the
material or activity is ultimately determined to be infringing.
(2) Exception. - Paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect to
material residing at the direction of a subscriber of the service
provider on a system or network controlled or operated by or for
the service provider that is removed, or to which access is
disabled by the service provider, pursuant to a notice provided
under subsection (c)(1)(C), unless the service provider -
(A) takes reasonable steps promptly to notify the subscriber
that it has removed or disabled access to the material;
(B) upon receipt of a counter notification described in
paragraph (3), promptly provides the person who provided the
notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) with a copy of the
counter notification, and informs that person that it will
replace the removed material or cease disabling access to it in
10 business days; and
(C) replaces the removed material and ceases disabling access
to it not less than 10, nor more than 14, business days
following receipt of the counter notice, unless its designated
agent first receives notice from the person who submitted the
notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) that such person has
filed an action seeking a court order to restrain the
subscriber from engaging in infringing activity relating to the
material on the service provider's system or network.
(3) Contents of counter notification. - To be effective under
this subsection, a counter notification must be a written
communication provided to the service provider's designated agent
that includes substantially the following:
(A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
(B) Identification of the material that has been removed or
to which access has been disabled and the location at which the
material appeared before it was removed or access to it was
disabled.
(C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber
has a good faith belief that the material was removed or
disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the
material to be removed or disabled.
(D) The subscriber's name, address, and telephone number, and
a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of
Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the
address is located, or if the subscriber's address is outside
of the United States, for any judicial district in which the
service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will
accept service of process from the person who provided
notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such
person.
(4) Limitation on other liability. - A service provider's
compliance with paragraph (2) shall not subject the service
provider to liability for copyright infringement with respect to
the material identified in the notice provided under subsection
(c)(1)(C).
(h) Subpoena To Identify Infringer. -
(1) Request. - A copyright owner or a person authorized to act
on the owner's behalf may request the clerk of any United States
district court to issue a subpoena to a service provider for
identification of an alleged infringer in accordance with this
subsection.
(2) Contents of request. - The request may be made by filing
with the clerk -
(A) a copy of a notification described in subsection
(c)(3)(A);
(B) a proposed subpoena; and
(C) a sworn declaration to the effe
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