Whether you run an online website or post on your personal social media accounts, you may be considered a digital content creator. With this, you should understand that all forms of digital media are protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). You may encounter the DMCA in the form of a takedown notice or account strike. However, depending on the specific reasons for their outreach, you may face much harsher consequences. That is, this may easily escalate to a civil lawsuit, monetary damages, court orders, and criminal charges. With all that being said, please continue reading to learn the penalties commonly associated with a DMCA violation and how an experienced New Jersey copyright lawyer at The Ingber Law Firm can help you avoid getting in such serious legal trouble.
What kinds of misconduct can lead to penalties from the DMCA?
Even everyday online activities can trigger an encounter with, and possibly subsequent consequences from, the DMCA. And so, regardless of whether it was accidental with no malicious intent, you may be held strictly liable for any of the following circumstances of online misconduct:
- You may have posted copyrighted content online without permission (i.e., posting protected music, movie/TV clips, photographs, writings, etc).
- You may have used copyrighted material in your business branding (i.e., copying someone else’s website layout, graphics, written content, etc).
- You may have bypassed digital rights management (DRM) systems (i.e., decrypting protected content, manipulating a computer code, etc).
- You may have overstepped copyright management information (CMI) rules (i.e., removing a watermark, altering a photography credit, etc).
What kinds of penalties can I face after violating the DMCA?
Before you face any legal penalties, you may experience platform-based enforcement for your DMCA violation. For example, if you posted copyrighted content on your personal social media account, the given platform may remove the content and place a strike against you. Then, if you receive multiple strikes or several reports, your account may be terminated.
With that comes the loss of your current and future monetization opportunities, partner programs, and more. And if this was your business’s account, your storefront may be suspended, product listings may be removed, and income opportunities and online reputation may be lost.
Unfortunately, it can get more serious than this, as a DMCA takedown can easily escalate to a civil lawsuit. This is if the copyright owner whom you infringed upon chooses to exercise their legal right to request the court for an injunction and to recuperate monetary damages from you.
Even worse than taking a financial hit, you may be up against a criminal conviction. This is if there is reason to believe that you committed a willful violation of anti-circumvention rules (i.e., bypassed DRM systems). With this, you may be sentenced to hefty fines and up to five or 10 years of imprisonment for a first or subsequent offense, respectively.
If you are ready to step foot into this legal path, do not do so until you have retained a skilled Essex County, New Jersey intellectual property lawyer from The Ingber Law Firm. We look forward to your phone call and to taking on your case.