Under new Copyright Office regulations, parties seeking the benefits of immunity under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act must re-register their Designation of Agents for notice and service through a new electronic registration system.  The deadline is December 31, 2017.  Registration is conducted through the Copyright Office website, at www.copyright.gov.

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the “DMCA”), online service providers (“ISPs”) can take advantage of a safe harbor against copyright infringement liability from infringing material posted to their websites by third parties.  This safe harbor is available where the ISP’s comply with certain steps, including the registration with the Copyright Office of a Designated Agent for notification of claimed infringements.

As of December 1, 2016, registration of Agents for notification of infringements under the DMCA must be done through the Copyright Office’s electronic registration system.  Parties that previously registered through the Copyright Office’s paper registration system must re-register under the electronic system by December 31, 2017.  Existing registrations will remain current to December 31, 2017.  From December 1, 2016, new DMCA Agent registrations will be good for a three-year period and must be renewed, or will expire.

Information required to register an Agent for notification under the DMCA:

• Designate a primary and secondary representative to serve as the contacts for DMCA notifications:
  • The Agent can be an individual, a title, such as “Copyright Agent,” a department, such as “Legal Department,” or a third party entity (such as outside counsel).
• Provide contact information for the primary and secondary Agent, including:
  • Agent’s Name
  • Agent’s Organization
  • Agent’s Physical Mail Address (Post Office Box allowed)
  • Agent’s Electronic Mail Address
  • Agent’s Telephone  Number
• Provide Contact Information for the Company (the service provider) (Post Office Box not allowed).
• Provide any Alternate Names used by the Company (the Service Provider), such as DBAs, website names, and other names that the public is likely to use to search for the service provider.

To create a DMCA Designated Agent Registration Account or to Designate an Agent for Service Provider, go to https://dmca.copyright.gov/osp/login.html.