6.13 Electronic Copyright Infringement

  • 6.13 Electronic Copyright Infringement
    Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing has become an issue on campus over the last few years. Peer to peer programs are generally used to find and download various media files such as music MP3s, movies, and images. What many users do not know is that most of these programs also set themselves up as servers when they are installed and run. The programs download into a "Shared" folder (the user can define a different folder to download into). Anything in this folder, is subsequently shared to others using similar programs on the Internet.

    Representatives of copyrighted materials often use available peer-to-peer programs such as Kazaa, Morpheus, Limewire, Bittorrent, Bearshare, and others, to find illegal peer-to-peer files. These programs provide the IP address of the machine from student computers with the illegally downloaded files. These companies have no special access and they are not violating student’s rights to privacy as they own the copyright. Thus, it is the student’s responsibility to know what programs are being installed on personal computers at all times.
  •  6.13.01 Intellectual Property

    Intellectual property rights protect the interests of creators. Intellectual property is usually divided into two categories: 

    • Industrial property such as inventions, trademarks and commercial names; and 
    • Copyright such as books, musical compositions, movies and artistic works 

    The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture of America Association (MPAA) are using the legal tools provided by the U. S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 to track down and legally confront those who commit copyright infringement. 

  • 6.13.02 Copyright Infringement

    Copyright infringement occurs when intellectual property is used without authorization from the owner. Downloading, uploading or sharing copyrighted material without permission is illegal. The most common offenses include downloading movies from an unauthorized source and sharing music peer-to-peer (P2P). These actions are considered a form of theft of the copyrighted work of a director, producer or artist.

    Capital University is legally required by the Higher Education Opportunity Act to take action against such activities when we receive a notice of violation for electronic copyright infringement.
  •  6.13.03 Notification Process for Copyright Infringement

    Capital University will receive a formal notice of copyright infringement from a copyright owner or person representing the owner. The notice will state the specific claim and/or identify the information residing on the Capital University computer systems or network.

    The Department of Information Technology will retrieve the illegally downloaded information, and send a formal written “Notice of Alleged Copyright Infringement” with detailed evidentiary information to the account holder. The account holder’s network access will be temporarily suspended pending the outcome of the student administration conduct process.
  •  6.13.04 Removal of Copyright Information

    The university reserves the right to remove or block access to any copyrighted materials, and/or temporarily disable access to the campus network pending the outcome of an investigation of an alleged copyright infringement violation. Capital University will inform the account holder of any action taken to maintain compliance with federal and state copyright infringement laws.
  •  6.14.05 University Consequences

    Capital University takes copyright infringement very seriously and will not condone this type of behavior. All alleged violations will be addressed by the Capital University conduct administration process.
  •  6.13.06 Notification to Copyright Owner

    The university designated agent will draft a summary response to the copyright owner indicating the outcome of the investigation as appropriate. All removed materials and/or disabled network access will be restored to the account holder within 10 business days of the case outcome.
  •  6.13.07 Legal Consequences for Continued Violations

    Violations of the copyright infringement laws may result in a formal criminal charge for a violation of law, formal court case proceedings, and fines up to $150,000 per work/property misappropriated.
  •  6.13.08 Report Copyright Infringement

    All members of our community are expected to exemplify honesty, respect for truth, and congruence with university values and behavior expectations in all exchanges and interactions. Students may confidentially report an electronic copyright infringement violation via copyright@capital.edu or via EthicsPoint located on the Capital University Web site via ONLINE SERVICES on the CURRENT STUDENTS link. EthicsPoint provides a simple, anonymous way for employees and students to report improper and illegal conduct.