Following up on last week’s Dancing Baby post, it’s worth exploring the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) a little more. Put code here The DMCA can protect websites from claims of copyright infringement. The DMCA protects four categories of Internet service providers: (1) new media services and websites that host servicers; (2) simple conduits that simply pass data; (3) services that cache information temporarily for users; and (4) information location services like search engines. The protection works like this. A website invites users to post content. The user uploads content that violates a third party’s copyright. The third party notifies the website with a “Take Down Notice”. The website has a reasonable time to remove the offending content. If the website removes the offending content, it’s protected from a copyright infringement law suit. In order to get the advantage of DMCA, the website has to register an agent with the Copyright Office.

Who would have thought that literal and figurative music icon Prince would go after Stephanie Lenz who posted her adorable children dancing to his “Let’s Go Crazy” on YouTube. Well, he did. And litigation ensued. Prince, who is notorious for protecting every facet of his art, sent a takedown notice to YouTube under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA"). The DMCA allows a copyright owner to ask that content be removed from a website if he has a "good faith" belief that the use of the work interferes with his copyright. YouTube complied stating that the video infringed. Stephanie sent a counter-notification claiming that the video was not infringing. YouTube reposted the video . Stephanie sued on the basis that YouTube misrepresented in the take down notice that the use was infringing. The case made its way to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which held that, before sending a takedown notice under the DMCA, the copyright owner’s “good faith” belief requires consideration of fair use. The case now goes back to the trial court. Dance on baby, even though you are probably about 10 years old by now.

The great Michael Jordan can teach us all some things about how to exploit our Intellectual Property. Most recently to the tune of $8.9 million. MJ obtained a jury verdict against the now defunct Dominicks food stores for violating his Right to Publicity which is the right to protect one's persona from unauthorized commercial use. Dominicks had placed an ad in a Sports Illustrated magazine that commemorated MJ's career. The ad used MJ's name and image and included a coupon. The court held that the ad went too far into commercial use without MJ's permission. Then the issue of damages was decided by a jury. They didn't give MJ all he asked for. But it's still a lot of money. MJ says he's going to donate any recovery he gets. MJ also has a suit pending against Jewel Food Stores for an ad it placed in the same magazine. We'll see how that goes.