The folly of defacing and or removing copyright information from photographs.

Distributed courtesy of PACA, Picture Archive Council of America
www.stockindustry.org

A. Damages for removal of Copyright Management Information

The DMCA serves as a powerful tool for copyright owners because
it provides additional protection distinct from that already afforded
under the Copyright Act. Additionally, the DMCA allows for
supplemental statutory damages.

The DMCA is different from the rest of the Copyright Act in
several ways. First, the DMCA does not prohibit copyright
infringement; the DMCA prohibits certain activities that could lead to
copyright infringement. Second, the remedies afforded under the DMCA
are different than the remedies provided for under the Copyright Act
for copyright infringement. Third, the DMCA entitles "anyone injured
by a violation" of Section 1202 to sue for statutory damages, unlike
the Copyright Act, which only permits certain persons to sue for
statutory damages.

One title of the DMCA, Section 1202, provides new civil and criminal
remedies against those who remove or falsify copyright management
information from copyrighted works. Copyright Management Information
("CMI") includes information typically contained in a notice of
copyright such as the title, the name of the copyright holder,
identifying numbers, and terms and conditions for use.

Section 1202 implements two new prohibitions. The first
prohibition in Section 1202 makes it unlawful for persons to knowingly
provide, distribute or import false CMI for distribution "with the
intent to induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal infringement." The
second prohibition in Section 1202 makes it unlawful to intentionally
remove or alter CMI, or knowingly distribute or import for
distribution CMI that has been removed or altered. Remedies for
violations of this provision are also quite high. For example,
statutory damages (an amount awarded in the court's discretion) range
from not less than $2,500 and not more than $25,000 per violation.
Moreover, these damages may be tripled if the court finds that the
infringer is a repeat offender (has violated Section 1202 twice within
three years). Criminal remedies for a violation of this section are
also provided for.

To date, there are few cases that address claims brought under
Section 1202. However, as more photographers distribute images in
digital format and either watermark or imbed metadata that includes
CMI, actions under Section 1202 could become more significant.