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DMCA DESIGNATED AGENT DIRECTORY FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

In December 2016, the Copyright Office issued a final rule governing the
designation of agents to receive notifications of claimed infringement under the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). For additional information about
those regulations and the electronic system that was implemented in conjunction
with them, please review the below for answers to frequently asked questions.

Expand All Collapse All

Why did the Office issue this rule?

Under section 512 of title 17, the Office is required to maintain a “current
directory” of agents that have been designated by service providers to receive
notifications of claimed infringement. Since 1998, service providers have
submitted paper designations to the Office, which the Office then scanned and
posted on the Office’s website to make them available to the public. To
modernize its practices, the Office created a fully-electronic online system
through which service providers can more efficiently submit and update, and the
public can more easily search for and find, designated agent information. The
adopted final rule governs service provider use of this system and updated what
is required of service providers to remain compliant with section 512(c)(2).


Who must designate an agent?

Any service provider (within the meaning of 17 U.S.C. 512(k)(1)) seeking the
safe harbor protections of section 512. Related or affiliated service providers
that are separate legal entities (e.g., corporate parents and subsidiaries) are
considered separate service providers, and each must have its own separate
designation.


What if a service provider has previously designated an agent with the Copyright
Office?

Any service provider that previously designated an agent with the Office via the
old paper system had a year-long period that ended on December 31, 2017 to
submit a new designation electronically through the online registration system.
As of January 1, 2018, any designation not made through the online system has
expired and is no longer valid. To be clear, the Office has not retroactively
invalidated these designations. Rather, to the extent they were otherwise
compliant, they remained valid and in effect until December 31, 2017.


Who can designate an agent with the Copyright Office or manage a service
provider’s designation with the Office (e.g., amend, resubmit, or renew a
designation)?

Anyone the service provider authorizes to act on its behalf. This can be an
employee of the service provider or a third party like a DMCA agent service or
law firm. The online system is flexibly designed to allow multiple service
provider designations to be managed through a single registration account.
Meaning, for example, that a third party can manage several unrelated service
providers through one account. Or, as another example, an employee of a parent
company can manage the parent company’s designation as well as the designations
of its subsidiaries through one account. Separate service provider and
designated agent contact information can be provided for each individual service
provider, even when managed through the same account. In some cases, a service
provider may wish to change who manages its designation, and that new manager
may not have access to the account through which the designation had been
previously managed. In such cases, the designation can be transferred from the
old manager’s account into the new manager’s account by making a written request
to the Copyright Office. For information about transfers, see “Can I transfer a
service provider designation from one system user account to another?” below.


Who may serve as a designated agent?

A designated agent may be an individual (e.g., “Jane Doe”), a specific position
or title held by an individual (e.g., “Copyright Manager”), a specific
department within the service provider’s organization or within a third-party
entity (e.g., “Copyright Compliance Department”), or a third-party entity
generally (e.g., “ACME Takedown Service”). Only a single agent may be designated
for each service provider.


How does a service provider designate an agent with the Copyright Office?

Please view the video tutorial entitled “Designating an Agent for a Service
Provider,” available at http://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/help.html, which
provides step-by-step instructions.


How do I create a registration account with the Office?

Please view the video tutorial entitled “Creating a DMCA Designated Agent
Registration Account,” available at
http://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/help.html, which provides step-by-step
instructions.


How do I amend a designation?

Please view the video tutorial entitled “Managing a Designation (Amendments and
Termination),” available at http://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/help.html,
which provides step-by-step instructions.


How do I renew a designation?

Please view the video tutorial entitled “Renewing a Designation,” available at
http://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/help.html, which provides step-by-step
instructions.


How do I terminate a designation?

Please view the video tutorial entitled “Managing a Designation (Amendments and
Termination),” available at http://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/help.html,
which provides step-by-step instructions. Please note that terminating a
designation will cancel it, leaving the service provider without an active
designation in the Office’s directory.


How do I make changes to my registration account?

Please view the video tutorial entitled “Managing an Account,” available at
http://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/help.html, which provides step-by-step
instructions.


How do I terminate my registration account?

Please view the video tutorial entitled “Managing an Account,” available at
http://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/help.html, which provides step-by-step
instructions. Please note that terminating a registration account will also
terminate all service provider designations managed through the account. This
will leave such service providers without active designations in the Office’s
directory unless new designations are made through a different account.


What is the fee to designate an agent with the Copyright Office (or to amend,
resubmit, or renew a designation)?

The current fee is $6 per designation, amendment, or resubmission. There is no
separate fee to renew per se because each time you amend or resubmit, and pay
the $6 fee to do so, you are fulfilling the renewal requirement. There is no
longer an additional fee for alternate names.


What information must be made available on a service provider’s website and
provided to the Copyright Office to designate an agent?

A service provider is required to supply its full legal name, physical street
address (not a post office box), any alternate names used by the service
provider, and the name, organization, physical mail address (street address or
post office box), telephone number, and email address of its designated agent.


What are alternate names?

Alternate names are all names that the public would be likely to use to search
for the service provider’s designated agent in the Copyright Office’s online
directory of designated agents, including all names under which the service
provider is doing business, website names and addresses (i.e., URLs), software
application names, and other commonly used names. Separate legal entities are
not considered alternate names. For website addresses, the Office considers
providing the top level domain (e.g., copyright.gov) sufficient to comply with
Office regulations. It is not necessary to list all subdomains (e.g.,
copyright.gov/dmca-directory, dmca.copyright.gov) operated by the same service
provider.


Are there any circumstances under which I can provide a P.O. Box for the service
provider’s address?

Yes, but only with prior approval of the Copyright Office, which will only be
given upon written request and in exceptional circumstances, such where there is
a demonstrable threat to an individual’s personal safety or security, such that
it may be dangerous to publicly publish a street address where such individual
can be located. To obtain a waiver, the service provider must make a written
request submitted either by email, to poboxwaiver@copyright.gov, or by signed
letter, addressed to the “U.S. Copyright Office, Office of the General Counsel”
and sent to the address for time-sensitive requests set forth in 37 C.F.R.
201.1(c)(1), containing the following information: (1) the name of the service
provider; (2) the post office box address that the service provider wishes to
use; (3) a detailed statement providing the reasons supporting the request, with
explanation of the specific threat(s) to an individual’s personal safety or
security; and (4) an email address for any responsive correspondence from the
Office. There is no fee associated with making this request. If the request is
approved, the service provider may display the post office box address on its
website and will receive instructions from the Office as to how to complete the
Office’s electronic registration process. Please note that this only applies to
a service provider’s address. A waiver is not necessary to provide a post office
box for a designated agent’s address.


What additional information must be provided to the Copyright Office for
administrative purposes?

The first name, last name, telephone number, and email address of a
representative of the service provider who will serve as the primary point of
contact for communications with the Office, and a telephone number and email
address for the service provider. Information for a secondary point of contact
may be provided as well. While optional, the Copyright Office strongly
recommends providing information for a secondary contact as a backup to best
ensure that important communications from the Office reach the appropriate
person. The primary and secondary contacts are attached to the registration
account, as opposed to the service provider’s designation. This means that these
individuals are the primary and secondary contacts for all service providers
managed by a single account. This is in contrast to the service provider and
designated agent contact information which is specific to each service provider
and which may be different from the primary and secondary contacts’ information.


Am I required to provide four different points of contact for the Office?

No. While the Office recommends that the contact information given for the
primary contact, secondary contact (if provided), service provider, and
designated agent all be different so as to ensure that important notices and
reminders sent by the Office promptly reach the correct individuals, it is not
required. The only requirement is that if information for a secondary contact is
provided, it must be different from the primary contact’s information. For
example, the same person can act as both the primary contact and designated
agent. Or, if the service provider is run by a single person who will be
managing the service provider’s account and acting as its designated agent, then
it would be okay for the contact information for the primary contact, service
provider, and designated agent to all be the same.


Can I transfer a service provider designation from one system user account to
another?

Yes. In some cases, a service provider may wish to change who manages its
designation, and that new manager may not have access to the account through
which the designation had been previously managed. In such cases, the
designation can be transferred from the old manager’s account into the new
manager’s account by making a written request to the Copyright Office. To
request a transfer, the service provider must send an email to the Office at
copyosp@copyright.gov containing (1) the name and registration number of the
service provider, (2) the old manager’s account login ID, and (3) the new
manager’s account login ID. The Office will only effect a transfer if asked to
do so by the service provider. Requests from an account holder or designated
agent (where not also the service provider) will be rejected. When a designation
is transferred it disappears from the list of service providers in the old
manager’s account and instead shows up in the list of service providers in the
new manager’s account. This action does not affect the designation’s legal
effectiveness or its status or listing in the Office’s public directory.


What is the periodic “renewal” requirement?

A service provider’s designation will expire and become invalid three years
after it is registered with the Office, unless the service provider renews such
designation by either amending it to correct or update all relevant information
or resubmitting it without amendment to confirm the designation’s continued
accuracy. Either amending or resubmitting a designation through the online
system begins a new three-year period before such designation must be renewed,
from the date of renewal. For example, if a service provider registers a new
designation on January 1, 2017, and thereafter makes no amendment to that
designation, it must renew the designation (by amending or resubmitting it)
prior to January 1, 2020. But if that service provider instead amends its
initial designation on March 1, 2019 to update it with new information, the
three-year renewal clock is reset, and March 1, 2022 becomes the date prior to
which the service provider must renew the designation. If the service provider
then resubmits its designation without amendment on February 25, 2022 to satisfy
the renewal requirement, then the three-year clock is reset again, and February
25, 2025 becomes the next date prior to which the service provider must renew
again.


Will I get a reminder when it is time to renew my designation?

Yes. To help ensure that no service provider accidentally forgets to renew its
designation, the online system will automatically email reminders to the primary
and secondary contacts, service provider, and designated agent at 90 days, 60
days, 30 days, and 1 week prior to each service provider’s renewal deadline.


What is the difference between an amendment, a resubmission, and a renewal?

An amendment is when a change is made to update a designation. A resubmission is
when a designation is refiled with the Office without amendment in order to
confirm its continued accuracy. A renewal occurs whenever an amendment or
resubmission is made.


Why is renewal being required?

The Office has found the old paper-generated directory to contain significant
inaccuracies and outdated information. Although service providers are required
to update their designations with the Office as information changes, an
examination of a large sample of designations found that 22% were for defunct
service providers, while approximately 65% of non-defunct service providers’
designations had inaccurate information (when compared to the information
provided by service providers on their own websites). The renewal requirement
will help ensure that the directory stays up to date, and additionally will
assist service providers in retaining their safe harbor protections by reminding
them to keep their information current.


What is the consequence for choosing not to designate an agent or failing to
keep a designation current and accurate (including failing to renew)?

Service providers risk losing the safe harbor protections of section 512 of the
DMCA, leaving them potentially vulnerable to certain types of claims of
copyright infringement.


How do I search the directory?

Please view the video tutorial entitled “Searching the DMCA Designated Agent
Directory,” available at http://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/help.html,
which provides step-by-step instructions.


Is the old paper-generated directory still available online?

Yes. Although all designations in the old paper-generated directory have expired
and are no longer valid, the Office is still hosting them online as a matter of
historical record. The old directory is no longer, and is not a part of, the
“current directory of agents” maintained by the Office pursuant to section
512(c)(2). The old directory can be accessed here.




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