17 U.S.C. § 1202 — Integrity of copyright management information
submitted 28 years ago by Pub. L. 105-304 to r/title-17-COPYRIGHTS · 1,026 words · no verdicts yet
This section prohibits knowingly providing, distributing, or importing false copyright-management information. It also prohibits unauthorized removal or alteration of that information in specified circumstances, subject to government-activity and transmission limits.
(a) False copyright-management information. A person may not knowingly provide, distribute, or import for distribution false “copyright management information” when intending to induce, enable, facilitate, or hide infringement. This section does not define “copyright management information” here; subsection (c) describes it.
(b) Removal or alteration. Without the copyright owner’s authority or legal authority, a person may not intentionally remove or alter copyright-management information. A person also may not distribute or import it knowing it was removed or altered without authority. Nor may a person distribute, import for distribution, or publicly perform a work, copy, or phonorecord knowing that information was removed or altered without authority and knowing—or, for civil remedies under section 1203, having reasonable grounds to know—that this will induce, enable, facilitate, or hide infringement of a right under this title.
(c) Definition. In this section, “copyright management information” means information conveyed with copies* or phonorecords* of a work, or with a performance or display, including digitally. It does not include personally identifying information about a user of the work, copy, phonorecord, performance, or display. It includes: (1) the title and other information identifying the work, including information in a copyright notice; (2) the author’s name and other identifying information; (3) the copyright owner’s name and other identifying information, including information in a copyright notice; (4) except for public performances by radio or television broadcast stations, the name and identifying information of a performer whose performance is fixed in a work other than an audiovisual work; (5) except for those broadcast-station performances, in an audiovisual work, the name and identifying information of a credited writer, performer, or director; (6) terms and conditions for using the work; (7) identifying numbers or symbols referring to that information, or links to it; and (8) other information the Register of Copyrights prescribes by regulation. The Register may not require information about the user of a copyrighted work.
(d) Law enforcement, intelligence, and other government activities. This section does not prohibit a lawfully authorized investigative, protective, information-security, or intelligence activity by an officer, agent, or employee of the United States, a State, or a State political subdivision, or by a person acting under a contract with one of them. “Information security” means activities to identify and address weaknesses in a government computer, computer system, or computer network.
(e) Limits on liability. (1) Analog transmissions. A broadcast station, cable system, or person providing programming to one of them is not liable under subsection (b) for an analog transmission if avoiding the violation is not technically feasible or would cause an undue financial hardship, and the person did not intend the activity to induce, enable, facilitate, or hide infringement. (2) Digital transmissions. (A) If a voluntary consensus process involving a representative cross-section of broadcast stations or cable systems and copyright owners sets a standard for placing copyright-management information for a category of works, a person described in paragraph (1) is not liable under subsection (b) for that information if someone else placed it contrary to the standard and the activity was not intended to induce, enable, facilitate, or hide infringement. (B) Until such a standard exists, that person is not liable for the information if the activity was not intended to induce, enable, facilitate, or hide infringement and either transmitting it would perceptibly degrade the digital signal or would conflict with (i) an applicable government regulation, (ii) an applicable industry-wide standard adopted by a voluntary consensus body before this chapter took effect, or (iii) an applicable industry-wide standard adopted through an open voluntary consensus process involving a representative cross-section of the relevant stations or systems and copyright owners. (3) Definitions. In this subsection, “broadcast station” has the meaning in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153), and “cable system” has the meaning in section 602 of that Act (47 U.S.C. 522).
No person shall knowingly and with the intent to induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal infringement—
provide copyright management information that is false, or
distribute or import for distribution copyright management information that is false.
No person shall, without the authority of the copyright owner or the law—
intentionally remove or alter any copyright management information,
distribute or import for distribution copyright management information knowing that the copyright management information has been removed or altered without authority of the copyright owner or the law, or
distribute, import for distribution, or publicly perform works, copies* of works, or phonorecords*, knowing that copyright management information has been removed or altered without authority of the copyright owner or the law,
knowing, or, with respect to civil remedies under section 1203, having reasonable grounds to know, that it will induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal an infringement of any right under this title.
As used in this section, the term “copyright management information” means any of the following information conveyed in connection with copies or phonorecords of a work or performances or displays of a work, including in digital form, except that such term does not include any personally identifying information about a user of a work or of a copy, phonorecord, performance, or display of a work:
The title and other information identifying the work, including the information set forth on a notice of copyright.
The name of, and other identifying information about, the author of a work.
The name of, and other identifying information about, the copyright owner of the work, including the information set forth in a notice of copyright.
With the exception of public performances of works by radio and television broadcast stations, the name of, and other identifying information about, a performer whose performance is fixed in a work other than an audiovisual work.
With the exception of public performances of works by radio and television broadcast stations, in the case of an audiovisual work, the name of, and other identifying information about, a writer, performer, or director who is credited in the audiovisual work.
Terms and conditions for use of the work.
Identifying numbers or symbols referring to such information or links to such information.
Such other information as the Register of Copyrights may prescribe by regulation, except that the Register of Copyrights may not require the provision of any information concerning the user of a copyrighted work.
This section does not prohibit any lawfully authorized investigative, protective, information security, or intelligence activity of an officer, agent, or employee of the United States, a State, or a political subdivision of a State, or a person acting pursuant to a contract with the United States, a State, or a political subdivision of a State. For purposes of this subsection, the term “information security” means activities carried out in order to identify and address the vulnerabilities of a government computer, computer system, or computer network.
In the case of an analog transmission, a person who is making transmissions in its capacity as a broadcast station, or as a cable system, or someone who provides programming to such station or system, shall not be liable for a violation of subsection (b) if—
avoiding the activity that constitutes such violation is not technically feasible or would create an undue financial hardship on such person; and
such person did not intend, by engaging in such activity, to induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal infringement of a right under this title.
If a digital transmission standard for the placement of copyright management information for a category of works is set in a voluntary, consensus standard-setting process involving a representative cross-section of broadcast stations or cable systems and copyright owners of a category of works that are intended for public performance by such stations or systems, a person identified in paragraph (1) shall not be liable for a violation of subsection (b) with respect to the particular copyright management information addressed by such standard if—
the placement of such information by someone other than such person is not in accordance with such standard; and
the activity that constitutes such violation is not intended to induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal infringement of a right under this title.
Until a digital transmission standard has been set pursuant to subparagraph (A) with respect to the placement of copyright management information for a category of works, a person identified in paragraph (1) shall not be liable for a violation of subsection (b) with respect to such copyright management information, if the activity that constitutes such violation is not intended to induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal infringement of a right under this title, and if—
the transmission of such information by such person would result in a perceptible visual or aural degradation of the digital signal; or
the transmission of such information by such person would conflict with—
an applicable government regulation relating to transmission of information in a digital signal;
an applicable industry-wide standard relating to the transmission of information in a digital signal that was adopted by a voluntary consensus standards body prior to the effective date of this chapter; or
an applicable industry-wide standard relating to the transmission of information in a digital signal that was adopted in a voluntary, consensus standards-setting process open to participation by a representative cross-section of broadcast stations or cable systems and copyright owners of a category of works that are intended for public performance by such stations or systems.
As used in this subsection—
the term “broadcast station” has the meaning given that term in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153); and
the term “cable system” has the meaning given that term in section 602 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522).
Source credit: (Added Pub. L. 105–304, title I, § 103(a), Oct. 28, 1998, 112 Stat. 2872; amended Pub. L. 106–44, § 1(e), Aug. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 222.)
- 1998Enacted · Pub. L. 105-304 · 112 Stat. 2872
- 1999Amended · Pub. L. 106-44 · 113 Stat. 222
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 105-304 on 1998-10-28.
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