U.S. Copyright

Title I implements the WIPO treaties. First, it makes certain technical
amendments to U.S. law, in order to provide appropriate references and links to the
treaties. Second, it creates two new prohibitions in Title 17 of the U.S. Code—one on
circumvention of technological measures used by copyright owners to protect their
works and one on tampering with copyright management information—and adds civil
remedies and criminal penalties for violating the prohibitions. In addition, Title I
requires the U.S. Copyright Office to perform two joint studies with the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration of the Department of
Commerce (NTIA)

National Eligibility

The WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and
Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) each require member countries to provide protection to
certain works from other member countries or created by nationals of other member
countries. That protection must be no less favorable than that accorded to domestic
works.
Section 104 of the Copyright Act establishes the conditions of eligibility for
protection under U.S. law for works from other countries. Section 102(b) of the
DMCA amends section 104 of the Copyright Act and adds new definitions to section
101 of the Copyright Act in order to extend the protection of U.S. law to those works
required to be protected under the WCT and the WPPT.
Restoration of Copyright Protection
Both treaties require parties to protect preexisting works from other member
countries that have not fallen into the public domain in the country of origin through
the expiry of the term of protection. A similar obligation is contained in both the
Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement. In 1995 this obligation was implemented in the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, creating a new section 104A in the
Copyright Act to restore protection to works from Berne or WTO member countries
that are still protected in the country of origin, but fell into the public domain in the
United States in the past because of a failure to comply with formalities that then
existed in U.S. law, or due to a lack of treaty relations. Section 102(c) of the DMCA
amends section 104A to restore copyright protection in the same circumstances to
works from WCT and WPPT member countries.

Registration as a Prerequisite to Suit

The remaining technical amendment relates to the prohibition in both treaties
against conditioning the exercise or enjoyment of rights on the fulfillment of
formalities. Section 411(a) of the Copyright Act requires claims to copyright to be
registered with the Copyright Office before a lawsuit can be initiated by the copyright
owner, but exempts many foreign works in order to comply with existing treaty
obligations under the Berne Convention. Section 102(d) of the DMCA amends section
411(a) by broadening the exemption to cover all foreign works.

Technological Protection and Copyright Management Systems

Each of the WIPO treaties contains virtually identical language obligating
member states to prevent circumvention of technological measures used to protect
copyrighted works, and to prevent tampering with the integrity of copyright
management information. These obligations serve as technological adjuncts to the
exclusive rights granted by copyright law. They provide legal protection that the
international copyright community deemed critical to the safe and efficient exploitation
of works on digital networks.

Savings clauses

Section 1201 contains two general savings clauses. First, section 1201(c)(1)
states that nothing in section 1201 affects rights, remedies, limitations or defenses to
copyright infringement, including fair use. Second, section 1201(c)(2) states that
nothing in section 1201 enlarges or diminishes vicarious or contributory copyright
infringement.

Remedies

Any person injured by a violation of section 1201 or 1202 may bring a civil
action in Federal court. Section 1203 gives courts the power to grant a range of
equitable and monetary remedies similar to those available under the Copyright Act,
including statutory damages. The court has discretion to reduce or remit damages in
cases of innocent violations, where the violator proves that it was not aware and had
no reason to believe its acts constituted a violation. (Section 1203(c)(5)(A)). Special
protection is given to nonprofit libraries, archives and educational institutions, which
are entitled to a complete remission of damages in these circumstances. (Section
1203(c)(5)(B)).

Limitation for Transitory Communications

In general terms, section 512(a) limits the liability of service providers in
circumstances where the provider merely acts as a data conduit, transmitting digital
information from one point on a network to another at someone else’s request. This
limitation covers acts of transmission, routing, or providing connections for the
information, as well as the intermediate and transient copies that are made automatically
in the operation of a network.