A Report On Notice And Takedown In Everyday Practice

Recently, professors from the University of California Berkeley School of Law's Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic and Columbia University's American Assembly issued a report summarizing three studies on takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act regime.

The report is enlightening and very useful, with an accessible executive summary, primer on the law, and insightful analysis and recommendations helpful to anyone who deals with DMCA notices even occasionally. A few highlights follow on the lessons we can draw from the three studies published in the report:

Information about service provider and copyright holder norms is hard to find. Study 1 summarizes interviews with online service providers and copyright holders/agents. Both groups have generally proven reluctant to share information about their practices, even with researchers. Service providers worry that speaking publicly will make them targets of copyright trolls or