The US Copyright law, Title 17, US Code was amended in 1998 by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

The DMCA recognized that digital transmission of copyright material provides non-profit educational institutions with certain liability protections if individual members of the community violate the law.  These protections are subject to specific legal responsibilities.

Activities that violate federal law

These are examples of copyright infringement that may be found in a university setting:

• Downloading and sharing MP3 files of music, videos, and games without permission of the copyright owner
• Scanning or downloading and using a published photograph without permission or attribution
• Downloading licensed software or music from non-authorized sites without the permission of the copyright or license holder

The University’s responsibilities

In order for Suffolk University to maintain this protection, the University must expeditiously take down or block access to infringing material once a violation has been brought to our attention, regardless of whether the infringing individual has received notice.

The US Copyright Office provides a full summary of the DMCA.

Information is also available on Wikipedia.