Multistakeholder Forum on the DMCA Notice and Takedown System

Multistakeholder Forum on the DMCA Notice and Takedown System

The Green Paper identified five separate copyright policy issues critical to economic growth, job creation, and cultural development on which the Task Force planned to conduct further work:  

  • the legal framework for the creation of remixes;
  • the relevance and scope of the first sale doctrine in the digital environment;
  • the appropriate calibration of statutory damages, in the contexts of individual file sharers and of secondary liability for large-scale online infringement;
  • improving the operation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) notice and takedown system; and
  • how the government can facilitate the further development of a robust online licensing environment.

On the issue of improving the operation of the DMCA notice and takedown system, following the 2013 Public Meeting and the Public Comments, the Task Force established a multistakeholder forum for consensus-building among stakeholders.

The goal of the multistakeholder forum was to identify best practices and/or produce voluntary agreements for improving the operation of the DMCA notice and takedown system without the need for legislative changes.  The forum kicked off in March 2014 and a broad range of stakeholders participated, including right holders and individual creators, service providers of different sizes, and consumer and public interest representatives.  Meetings took place approximately every six weeks through the end of the year, alternating between the East and West Coasts.  Smaller working and drafting groups were established, which prepared drafts of the DMCA Notice-and-Takedown Processes:  List of Good, Bad and Situational Practices document for the full group’s approval.  A broad range of issues were considered and discussed intensively over the course of the process before the participants ultimately reached consensus on those practices addressed in the final document.

Final Multistakeholder Document

2014 Multistakeholder Forum Information

Archived versions of the webcasts of these meetings and other documentation can be accessed in the links immediately below

2013 Public Meeting

Public Comments

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