Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Copyright is a form of protection of intellectual property provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of original works. These works include but are not limited to literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and multi-media works. Many people understand that published, printed works such as books and magazine articles are covered by copyright but they have a very limited understanding that the protection extends into unpublished works, and covers all forms of a work, including its digital transmission and use.

Copyrighted works include the following broad categories:

   1. Literary works
   2. Musical works, including accompanying words
   3. Dramatic works, including accompanying music
   4. Pantomimes and choreographic works
   5. Pictorial and graphical works
   6. Sculptural works
   7. Motion pictures and other audiovisual works
   8. Sound recordings in all formats
   9. Architectural works
10. Photographs
11. Museum reproductions of paintings or other works of art

Copyright is an issue of particular seriousness because we are now able to easily copy and transmit protected works.

It is the responsibility of all students, faculty, and staff at the University of Richmond to understand and comply with Copyright law. A good basic primer on Copyright Law is found on the United Copyright Office web site.

Examples Of Copyright Infringement Found In A University Setting:

A faculty member places a number of full-text articles on his/her class web page. The web page is accessible to anyone who can access the Internet.
Students download MP3 and MPEG files of music and send them to friends without copyright holder permission
Students use Napster or similar utilities to download copyright protected music without permission from the copyright holder
A student prepares a web page assignment for a Marketing course and uses corporate logos without permission.
Without the copyright holder's permission, a faculty member places an electronic copy of a standardized test on the department's web site.
A staff member enhances the departmental web site with music that is downloaded and artwork that is scanned from a book, all without attribution or permission.
A student scans a photograph that has been published and uses it without permission as the background of his/her web site.
A faculty member scans a cartoon character and uses it as background to their vita.
A student develops an e-commerce site for a class and, without permission, scans in photographs of products that came from commercial web sites.
A student selects a segment of a movie and places it on his web site.
A staff member enhances his site with images from cartoons and Austin Powers.
A faculty member enhances his course materials by scanning in graphics from books that illustrate the point he is trying to make. No attribution is given for the graphics, although it is obvious that they came from a printed publication.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA), signed into law in 1998 recognizes that digital transmission of works adds complexity to the Copyright Law. The DCMA provides non-profit educational institutions with some protections if individual members of the community violate the law. However, for the University of Richmond to maintain this protection we must Immediately take down or otherwise block access to infringing material, whenever it is noticed, and whether or not the individual has received a notice.

For faculty, adjunct faculty, post-doctoral teachers, and graduate students, the DCMA expressly prohibits the assignment of, downloading, or provision of access to infringing materials as required or recommended reading for any course taught at or in connection with the University of Richmond. The DCMA does not shield the University of Richmond from vicarious liability for this type of copyright infringement.

The DCMA will not shield the University from liability of infringing activities of a faculty member or graduate student if the University has received more than two notices of infringement against such person within a three-year period. Therefore, after the first notice is received, the faculty member or graduate student will be required to prove to the Universitys Designated DCMA Agent that they understand copyright law and will not violate the law in the future. A repeat offender will be placed on probationary status by the University.

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