US Copyright Office issues Report on Registering Copyrights

The US Copyright Office has published a long awaited Report on Section 512 of Title 17– safe harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This provision is the foundation of the protection of service providers from copyright liability, as long as they comply with takedowns quickly and undertake reasonable efforts to comply. 

The report states that while Title 17, Section 512 of the DMCA is generally in good shape, there are several issues which need tweaking. These include alternate models for resolving takedown disputes, harsher penalties for misrepresentations in takedown notices and counter notices. It also proposed requiring platforms like Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc., and YouTube to provide written, public policies for terminating services of repeat infringers not just internal policies.