INTRODUCTION
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed into law by 1
President Clinton on October 28, 1998. The legislation implements two 1996 World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties: the WIPO Copyright Treaty and
the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. The DMCA also addresses a
number of other significant copyright-related issues.
The DMCA is divided into five titles:
! Title I, the "WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms
Treaties Implementation Act of 1998," implements the WIPO
treaties.
! Title II, the "Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation
Act," creates limitations on the liability of online service providers for
copyright infringement when engaging in certain types of activities.
! Title III, the "Computer Maintenance Competition Assurance
Act," creates an exemption for making a copy of a computer program
by activating a computer for purposes of maintenance or repair.
! Title IV contains six miscellaneous provisions, relating to the
functions of the Copyright Office, distance education, the exceptions
in the Copyright Act for libraries and for making ephemeral recordings,
"webcasting” of sound recordings on the Internet, and the applicability
of collective bargaining agreement obligations in the case of transfers
of rights in motion pictures.
! Title V, the "Vessel Hull Design Protection Act," creates a new form
of protection for the design of vessel hulls.
This memorandum summarizes briefly each title of the DMCA. It provides
merely an overview of the law’s provisions; for purposes of length and readability a
significant amount of detail has been omitted. A complete understanding of any
provision of the DMCA requires reference to the text of the legislation itself.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
Copyright Office Summary December 1998 Page 2
TITLE I: WIPO TREATY IMPLEMENTATION
Title I implements the WIPO treaties. First, it makes certain technical
amendments to U.S. law, in order to provide appropriate references and links to the
treaties. Second, it creates two new prohibitions in Title 17 of the U.S. Code—one on
circumvention of technological measures used by copyright owners to protect their
works and one on tampering with copyright management information—and adds civil
remedies and criminal penalties for violating the prohibitions. In addition, Title I
requires the U.S. Copyright Office to perform two joint studies with the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration of the Department of
Commerce (NTIA).
Technical Amendments
National Eligibility
The WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and
Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) each require member countries to provide protection to
certain works from other member countries or created by nationals of other member
countries. That protection must be no less favorable than that accorded to domestic
works.
Section 104 of the Copyright Act establishes the conditions of eligibility for
protection under U.S. law for works from other countries. Section 102(b) of the
DMCA amends section 104 of the Copyright Act and adds new definitions to section
101 of the Copyright Act in order to extend the protection of U.S. law to those works
required to be protected under the WCT and the WPPT.
Restoration of Copyright Protection
Both treaties require parties to protect preexisting works from other member
countries that have not fallen into the public domain in the country of origin through
the expiry of the term of protection. A similar obligation is contained in both the
Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement. In 1995 this obligation was implemented
in the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, creating a new section 104A in the
Copyright Act to restore protection to works from Berne or WTO member countries
that are still protected in the country of origin, but fell into the public

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