No Safe Harbor: Online Music Streaming Mixtape Platform is Liable for Copyright Infringement That Occurred Before Registering a DMCA Agent

Written by Albina Gasanbekova In Atlantic Recording Corp., et al. v. Spinrilla, LLC, et al., 1:17-cv-00431-AT (N.D. Ga. Nov. 30, 2020), a federal district court ruled that an online streaming provider cannot invoke the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) to avoid liability for infringing uploads occurring before the provider met the requisite criteria for such protection. Spinrilla.com (“Spinrilla”) proclaims that it … Continue reading No Safe Harbor: Online Music Streaming Mixtape Platform is Liable for Copyright Infringement That Occurred Before Registering a DMCA Agent

Consumer Products Sellers Beware: New Prop 65 Warnings Coming in California

Prop 65 Warning
Photo credit: iStock.com/kchungtw

By Susan Kohn Ross

New Proposition 65 safe harbor warnings will take effect on August 30, 2018. While these new warnings relate to a wide range of goods and services, we are focused on changes that impact consumer products due to the focus of our clientele. If you are currently subject to Prop 65, you will continue to be subject to its requirements. If you are not currently impacted, you may be under the new rules!

Not sure? Check the various fact sheets published here, or more generally the “warnings page” here.

New Categories

Warnings are now expressly required on your website! Internet warnings – “a warning that complies with the content requirements of Section 25603(a) must also be provided by including either the warning or a clearly marked hyperlink using the word “WARNING” on the product display page, or by otherwise prominently displaying the warning to the purchaser prior to completing the purchase.” The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment or OEHHA (the California state agency which oversees Prop 65) noted the following: “Some online retail sellers who currently provide an internet warning do so by providing the warning as a pop-up when the purchaser enters a California zip code. This is an example of a way to prominently display ‘the warning to the purchaser prior to completing the purchase’ as required by the regulation.” Continue reading “Consumer Products Sellers Beware: New Prop 65 Warnings Coming in California”

New Regulations Issued By The Copyright Office Affecting Thousands of Websites

By Eric Schwartz and Matthew Williams

The Copyright Office officially released an announcement Monday, October 31st, about new regulations affecting all online service providers who seek liability limitations under 17 U.S.C. § 512 (i.e., the DMCA). The regulations, which are effective as of December 1, 2016, require that all service providers (even those who have previously designated agents) file new forms prior to December 31, 2017 to (re)name their copyright designated agents, who are to receive takedown notices from copyright owners related to allegedly infringing content. This (re)designation process must be completed through the Copyright Office’s new online registration system. Paper forms will no longer be accepted. Moreover, companies must renew their agent designations every three years.

Continue reading “New Regulations Issued By The Copyright Office Affecting Thousands of Websites”