Digital Law Online: Rights Management

The second aspect of the WIPO Copyright Treaty addressed in the DMCA is the protection of rights management information. The corresponding provision in the DMCA is codified as Section 1202:

No person shall knowingly and with the intent to induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal infringement:

(1) provide copyright management information that is false, or

(2) distribute or import for distribution copyright management information that is false.

(b) Removal or Alteration of Copyright Management Information.– No person shall, without the authority of the copyright owner or the law:

(1) intentionally remove or alter any copyright management information,

(2) distribute or import for distribution copyright management information knowing that the copyright management information has been removed or altered without authority of the copyright owner or the law, or

(3) distribute, import for distribution, or publicly perform works, copies of works, or phonorecords, knowing that copyright management information has been removed or altered without authority of the copyright owner or the law, knowing, or, with respect to civil remedies under section 1203, having reasonable grounds to know, that it will induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal an infringement of any right under this title. {FN174: 17 U.S.C. §1202(a)}

It defines “copyright management information” as

any of the following information conveyed in connection with copies or phonorecords of a work or performances or displays of a work, including in digital form, except that such term does not include any personally identifying information about a user of a work or of a copy, phonorecord, performance, or display of a work:

(1) The title and other information identifying the work, including the information set forth on a notice of copyright.

(2) The name of, and other identifying information about, the author of a work.

(3) The name of, and other identifying information about, the copyright owner of the work, including the information set forth in a notice of copyright.

(4) With the exception of public performances of works by radio and television broadcast stations, the name of, and other identifying information about, a performer whose performance is fixed in a work other than an audiovisual work.

(5) With the exception of public performances of works by radio and television broadcast stations, in the case of an audiovisual work, the name of, and other identifying information about, a writer, performer, or director who is credited in the audiovisual work.

(6) Terms and conditions for use of the work.

(7) Identifying numbers or symbols referring to such information or links to such information.

(8) Such other information as the Register of Copyrights may prescribe by regulation, except that the Register of Copyrights may not require the provision of any information concerning the user of a copyrighted work. {FN175: 17 U.S.C. §1202(c)}

At the present time, there are few, if any, rights management systems. Perhaps the most interesting use for rights management information today is as a trigger for an access control mechanism, such that the copyright owner can specify the types of accesses that are to be allowed or blocked. As such, rights management is closely related to access control.

Next section: Permitted Circumventions