The Fair Use Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a 1998 U.S. copyright law which incorporates two 1996 international treaties of the World Trade Organization. It basically criminalizes the distribution and production of copyrighted material designed to circumvent existing laws that govern access to copyrighted works.Click here for more details about DMCA

When the United States signed the Berne Convention in Berne, Switzerland, which established the World Trade Organization (WTO), it also agreed to join the Universal Copyright Convention. The U.S. did so to ensure that other nations would respect the standards and rules of intellectual property that were set forth by the Berne Convention. The Universal Copyright Convention is also known as the Berne Convention Treaty. In order to become a member of the treaty, a country must first pass its own Universal Copyright Law.

As part of its commitment to the U.S. and the other countries, the USTR has worked with the US Chamber of Commerce, the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Association of Independent Music, the Recording Artists Guild, and the United States Conference of Mayors to create the DMCA. The primary purpose of the DMCA was to help the U.S. continue to enforce its copyright laws, including its copyrights on sound recordings. This law was introduced to help put a strong emphasis on fair use and other intellectual property rights. Because of the focus on fair use, the DMCA can be seen as a compromise between what was originally written into the Berne Convention and what the USTR believes is necessary for copyright protection in the United States.

The DMCA serves as a means of addressing the concerns that are raised by some copyright owners concerning fair use and the other rights of copyright holders. For example, many people believe that the DMCA does not go far enough in protecting their rights. This is particularly true for those that own music recordings and videos and the rights of ownership.

Fair use, which is the legal term used to describe the right of an individual or business to use copyrighted material in the manner that it was intended, is one of the more controversial aspects of the copyright laws. Many people feel that fair use has been weakened in the United States, while others feel that it is still very much intact. To be able to protect fair use, Congress introduced the DMCA, which makes it illegal to distribute copies of copyrighted material without first paying for them or using them in creative and interesting ways for certain purposes.

In addition to being implemented to protect the rights of individuals in the United States, the act has allowed many companies to utilize copyrighted material online without having to pay for it. It is one of the most important tools that the U.S. has available to protect intellectual property online. As of now, there are thousands of websites that have created software programs that are capable of creating a multitude of different types of content for free.