If You Are Issued a Copyright Infringement Notice

Note: Unless served with a proper subpoena, the Institute will not disclose the name of, or other identifying information pertaining to the user, to the holder of the copyright and/or their agents. The information on this page is not meant to be used as legal advice. You should contact a legal representative should you have any concerns or questions.

Unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted material violates the US Copyright Law as well as MIT Policy and the MITnet Rules of Use. MIT's responsibility under the law is to respond expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material that is claimed to be infringing by forwarding the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notifications issued by the copyright holders to the accused infringers.

There are four types of notices you may receive from a copyright holder who claims copyright infringement. Copyright holders can choose to send one or any of these for activity that they detect on our network. For the most part, only the RIAA has been issuing Settlement Letters. The other three most common types of notices are Takedown Notices, Preservation Requests, and Subpoenas. Below is a summary of each one. This information may help you to determine the right steps to take for each of the notification situations.

Takedown Notices

Takedown Notices are the most common notice and ask to remove or disable access to the infringing files from a computer. If you receive a DMCA Takedown Notice, you should immediately remove or disable access to all infringing materials (not simply those files listed in the notice). If the materials are removed and you have not previously engaged in unauthorized use of copyrighted material, the case is quickly resolved by removal of the unauthorized material.

Take the following steps:

1. Remove the works cited in the notice and any other copyrighted material for which there is no explicit permission from the copyright holder to possess. A good rule of thumb to follow is: If you didn't pay for it, you shouldn't have it on your computer.
2. Disable file sharing of any copyrighted material for which there is no explicit permission from the copyright holder to redistribute.
3. Respond to DMCA agent (dmca-agent@mit.edu) when the copyright infringement has been halted. To avoid an interruption in network service, you should respond no later than 5 days after the notice was sent to you. If we do not receive a response, we will expeditiously block the computer’s access to the network.

Do not:

1. Ignore the notice.
2. Contact the company directly. They do not need to know who you are and may be confused about whom to contact in the future.

Additional things to consider:

If the infringement is not promptly resolved, MIT will suspend network access to the computer in question, and, in addition, for repeat infringers, MIT may file disciplinary complaints with the Dean of Students, the department of Human Resources, or the Provost's Office, as appropriate. Visit the Copyright Infringement Policy for Students page to learn more about the steps MIT takes regarding infringers who are students.

Be sure to read the entire notice of infringement. You will find this attached at the end of your email from the DMCA agent. Read the notice even if you don't believe your machine is in violation.

For music and movie files, you may be using peer-to-peer (p2p) sharing software, such as Limewire, BitTorrent, KaZaA, or Gnutella. If you do have the rights to use the files, you most likely do not have the right to share the files with the world and should disable sharing immediately. You can find steps on how to disable sharing on the University of Chicago's site. Remove all infringing material from the shared folder before re-enabling sharing.

• Example of a Takedown Notice (redacted to protect identity)

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Preservation Requests

A Preservation Request asks the Internet service provider (in this case MIT) to preserve contact information for alleged infringement activities in anticipation of a subpoena being served. If the claim is settled, there is no need for a subpoena to be issued.

The requests only contain knowledge of an IP address on the MIT network and are addressed to the service provider rather than to the individual who is allegedly infringing. The copyright holder will not know the identity of the alleged infringer at this time. The MIT DMCA agent will forward a copy of the request to the alleged infringer so that he or she may know that the copyright holder has identified potentially illegal network activity. You may wish to consult with legal counsel of your choosing upon receiving a copy of a Preservation Request, however, no further action will be required of you in this situation.

• Example of a Preservation Request (redacted to protect identity)
  

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Settlement Letter(s)

Also known as Pre-Litigation Settlement Letters (PLSL), these are intended to reach a settlement out of court for the alleged infringing activity. Settlements have been reported to be in the $3,000-$5,000 range. If MIT receives a PLSL from the RIAA or any other copyright holder, it will internally identify the allegedly offending user and will forward the letter to that user.

If you receive a settlement letter, it is your responsibility alone to determine the manner in which you will respond. You may wish to consult with legal counsel of your choosing before responding to the letter.

If you do not respond to the settlement letter, the holder of the copyright may commence suit against you as a “John Doe” or “Jane Doe,” then serve the Institute with a subpoena (see Subpoena Notices below) to obtain information revealing your identity.

• Example of a Settlement Letter (redacted to protect identity)

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Subpoenas

A Subpoena is a legally binding court order sent to MIT that requests MIT to provide identifying information of the infringer to the copyright owner. If served with a legally issued subpoena, the Institute may have no option but to comply with the subpoena and supply the information requested therein, which will undoubtedly include the identity of the user of the infringing IP address. The Family and Education Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) affords students limited protection with regard to a subpoena. FERPA provides that an institution served with a lawfully issued subpoena must notify the student of its receipt of the subpoena in advance of compliance. This permits the eligible student to seek protective action from the court, such as limiting the scope of the subpoena. If the student does not seek a protective order, or is unsuccessful in obtaining such an order, the Institute must respond to the subpoena.

If you receive a subpoena, we encourage you to retain your own legal counsel as soon as possible for advice on this matter before you do anything else with your computer's contents. Since the subpoena is not a takedown notice, removing the infringing materials is not sufficient, and, in fact, may expose you to additional liability. We strongly recommend not to remove the files in this case and to disable all unauthorized sharing of files.

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Resources

• Copyright Infringement Policy for Students
  The procedures MIT follows regarding takedown notices issued to students
  
  
• Policy 13.5 Reproduction of Copyrighted Material
  MIT's policy on copyright infringement.
  
  
• Disabling Peer-to-Peer File Sharing
  As provided by the University of Chicago

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