How UB Responds to Allegations of On-Line Copyright Infringement (DMCA Notices)

Distribution of copyrighted material, including music, games, and movies, for which you do not have the owner's permission is a violation of federal law and University policy.¹ Popular file-sharing programs, such as KaZaA, LimeWire, Grokster, and Morpheus, commonly share downloaded music, movie and other files from your computer with users worldwide if you do not take specific actions to prevent this.²

Copyright holders and their agents frequently scan university networks for copyrighted materials (especially music, games, or movies) that are available to others from computer systems on the UB network. The University receives many notices from organizations acting as agents for media companies, alleging copyright infringement by users of the University's computing network.

When the University receives a notice alleging copyright infringement, the UB DMCA agent, in consultation with others including SUNY Counsel, decides whether to take advantage of the ISP liability limitation or handle the complaint in another way. For example, in some cases a Fair Use defense of the complaint may be pursued.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides procedures that may be used by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in dealing with claims of copyright infringement. UB is an ISP for many members of its community of students, faculty, and staff. As part of its compliance with federal copyright law, the University has designated a DMCA Agent who responds to bona fide³ notices of copyright violations as follows. UB will reveal names of alleged offenders when and only when given a valid subpoena.

1. The University DMCA Agent or his designee assesses the DMCA Notice to ensure that it conforms to the statutory requirements.
2. The University DMCA Agent or his designee requests that CIT staff identify the individual responsible for possible copyright infringement using the Internet location of the allegedly infringing materials supplied in the notice. When necessary, CIT staff may invoke the assistance of distributed IT staff to ascertain the Internet location of materials and identify a responsible individual. ⁴
3. The DMCA agent or designee contacts the identified individual by campus email to report that UB has received an allegation of copyright infringement in which s/he is implicated and that s/he has been enrolled in a UBlearns course, http://ublearns.buffalo.edu, named "Copyright." This course explains the DMCA, including types of legal notices and penalties, possible on-campus consequences, and some practical advice about how to avoid further DMCA notices. It also requires that the individual remove all unauthorized copies of copyrighted materials. Enrollees have one week to complete the course, including completion of an assessment with a passing grade of 90%. Should the enrollee desire, a meeting with the Computer Discipline Officer for further details of the alleged infringement may be requested. If the identified individual cited is certain that s/he is legally using the allegedly infringing material or that the copyright owner has misidentified the material, s/he may file a counter notice. ⁵ If the identified individual is an employee, his/her supervisor is also notified of the alleged copyright violation.
4. If the individual does not complete the course within a week, his/her UBITName is deactivated and a meeting with the Computer Discipline Officer is required. Once the meeting has occurred and the "Copyright" course completed, the UBITName is reactivated. If the IP address traces back to a privately owned computer, the issue is then closed. If the IP address traces back to a university-owned computer, a meeting with the Computer Discipline Officer is always required.
5. Alleged Repeat Offenders: The process for student alleged "repeat offenders", i.e. for students who are the subjects of more than one DMCA notice, is to file charges with the Student Wide Judiciary for prosecution as student misconduct. An additional procedure for alleged employee repeat offenders is that his/her department head will be informed that the complaint is not the first one.

   In order to maintain safe harbor under the DMCA, it is necessary that UB terminate the UB Internet services of students, faculty, or staff who receive three DMCA notices that (a) conform to statutory requirements and (b) where no counter-notification has been filed.

The widespread use of file-sharing programs to download and distribute music, videos, and software for recreational purposes can disrupt Internet access and damage the performance of other programs used for academic work on campus networks. UB uses a technique called "bandwidth shaping" which limits connection speed for file-sharing programs.

If the file-sharing and copyright infringement has been non-intentional, for example, as the result of computer compromise or "hacking", the Computer Discipline Officer will instruct the user to repair and secure the computer system or make an appointment with UBMicro IT Support Services to have the system fixed.

² For information on disabling file-sharing, see: http://security.uchicago.edu/guidelines/peer-to-peer/.

⁵ Counter-notification: If the individual cited is certain that s/he is legally using the allegedly infringing material or that the copyright owner has misidentified the material, the individual can file a counter notice after removing any files on his/her computer that match the file name(s) specified in the notice. See the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 USC 512(g)(3.) for complete information on the form and content of the counter notice. A counter notice must include the following information:

1. The name, address, phone number, and physical or electronic signature of the individual filing the counter notice
2. Identification of the material and its location before removal
3. A statement under penalty of perjury that the material was removed by mistake or misidentification
4. Consent of the individual filing the counter notice to local federal court jurisdiction

University at Buffalo's designated DMCA agent:

Richard H. Lesniak, PhD
Director, Academic Services, CIT
University at Buffalo
201 Computing Center
Buffalo, New York 14260
Phone: (716) 645-6158
Fax: (716) 645-3734
E-mail: ub-dmca-designated-agent@buffalo.edu

University at Buffalo's Computer Discipline Officer:

Michael J. Behun, Jr.
University at Buffalo Information Technology
247 Computing Center
Buffalo, New York 14260-1408
Phone: (716) 645-7739
Fax: (716) 645-3734
E-mail: behun@buffalo.edu