White Paper Proposes Solutions for Overhaul of Section 512

“OSPs that host user-generated content should be attributed more knowledge than an ‘ordinary’ person” and should act against infringement to a higher standard than an ‘uninformed lay person.’” – ICLE White Paper The International Center for Law and Economics (ICLE) released a white paper on Thursday arguing that Section 512 of Title 17 of the Copyright Act has been a failure, and it should be reevaluated and overhauled. Congress passed Section 512 as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and authors Kristian Stout and Geoffrey Manne argue the federal courts have written out key provisions in the law. Stout and Manne write that Section 512 has succeeded in allowing online service providers (OSPs) such as social media companies to grow and thrive by providing a safe harbor provision as long as they take down infringement promptly. However, the authors argue that the law has failed to provide proper incentives and systems to prevent digital piracy. The white paper builds on a May 2020 report from the U.S. Copyright Office which found that OSPs found Section 512 to be a success due to the growth it allowed, while on the whole rightsholders were more likely to have a negative…
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