Copyright Infringement Claims and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

Filing a takedown notice:

Pursuant to Title II of the DMCA, all claims alleging copyright infringement for material that the copyright owner, or person authorized to act on its behalf, determines to be residing on Verizon's system or network should be promptly sent in the form of written notice to Verizon's Designated Agent:

Designated Agent for DMCA Notices
Verizon Copyright Department
1300 I Street NW, Suite 500 East
Washington, DC 20005, U.S.A.

DMCA@verizon.com

NOTE: No other notices or communications should be sent to the Designated Agent, who is appointed solely for the purpose of receiving notices of claims alleging copyright infringement under Sections 512 (b) (c) and (d) of the DMCA.

For takedown notices, which reference material residing on Verizon’s system or network, specific requirements for proper notification of claimed infringement are set forth in the DMCA (see 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)). Valid notification must be a written communication that includes all of the following elements:

• Signature of copyright owner or person authorized to act on behalf of the owner;
• Identification of copyrighted work claimed to be infringed;
• Identification of the material claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material;
• Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party (address, phone number and, if available, email address);
• A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
• A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right allegedly being infringed.

Upon receipt of a valid DMCA takedown notice for copyrighted material residing on Verizon's system or network, Verizon will remove or disable access to such allegedly infringing material.

NOTE: The DMCA contemplates that those who send notices will act in good faith (see 17 U.S.C. § 512(f) - providing sanctions for material misrepresentations of copyright infringement).

Filing a counter-notification:

If a takedown notice under the DMCA regarding alleged copyright infringement involving material residing on Verizon’s system or network has been wrongly filed against you, you may submit a counter-notification to Verizon’s Designated Agent. Specific requirements for a proper counter-notification are set forth in the DMCA (see 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3)). A valid counter-notification must be a written communication that includes all of the following elements:

• A physical or electronic signature;
• Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled;
• A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification; and
• Your name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of federal district court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if your address is outside of the U.S., for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the complainant.

Upon receipt of a valid DMCA counter-notification, Verizon will forward it to the original complainant who submitted the DMCA notice alleging copyright infringement. The original complainant will then have ten (10) days to notify Verizon that it has filed a lawsuit relating to the allegedly infringing material otherwise Verizon will restore the removed material or cease disabling access to it.

Conduit Notices

A conduit notice is a notice of alleged copyright infringement received in circumstances where Verizon acts only as a conduit used by a customer to facilitate alleged infringement, as in the case of peer-to-peer (“P2P”) and other file sharing activities on an end user's computer.  When Verizon receives a conduit notice, Verizon cannot remove or disable the allegedly infringing material because that material does not reside on Verizon’s system or network. See 17 U.S.C. §§ 12(a); 512(c)(3)(A)(iii).  

We do not review, process, or otherwise take action on conduit notices sent to our DMCA Designated Agent or DMCA@verizon.com inbox. Nor do we review, process, or otherwise take action on any conduit notice sent via email to any other Verizon email inbox unless it is sent via our Conduit Notice Form process, described below. To address allegations of P2P and similar activities that are alleged to occur over conduit facilities Verizon offers copyright owners the following two separate options:

Conduit Notice Form:

Copyright owners who wish to email Verizon a conduit notice may choose to use the Conduit Notice Form available for download in PDF format. Upon receipt of the accurately completed form for an IP address, Verizon will forward, for free, a notice to the identified subscriber containing the details of the copyright owner’s allegation, including warnings about the potential consequences of continued alleged infringing activity. This option is best suited for copyright owners that send few conduit notices to Verizon monthly. The operation of bots to access and complete this form is prohibited. Verizon reserves the right to limit the number of forwarded notices per copyright owner. Verizon will not disclose personally identifiable subscriber information to the copyright owner absent receipt by Verizon of lawful legal process, such as an appropriate judicially issued subpoena or order. Completed forms may be submitted to:

Conduit Notices
Verizon Copyright Department
1300 I Street NW, Suite 500 East
Washington, DC 20005, U.S.A.

CONDUITFORMNOTICES@verizon.com

No other emails should be sent to this inbox other than those containing a properly completed Conduit Notice Form. Verizon will not review, process, or otherwise take action on any email sent to this inbox unless it is a properly completed Conduit Notice Form.  

Verizon Anti-Piracy Cooperation Program:

Alternatively, for copyright owners that wish to send a larger number of conduit notices to Verizon monthly, Verizon provides the option of using the Verizon Anti-Piracy Cooperation Program. Under this program, copyright owners may submit notices electronically, in JSON format, using a Verizon-assigned API key for security. Verizon will forward, for free, up to 50,000 properly formatted and submitted notices of alleged copyright infringement per copyright owner per month to subscribers where Verizon acts only as a conduit, as in the case of P2P and other file sharing activities. The Verizon Anti-Piracy Cooperation Program works in conjunction with an automated system (“Notice Forwarding System”) that Verizon has developed for notifying subscribers that Verizon has received such notices of alleged copyright infringement. Through the Notice Forwarding System, Verizon will send to the subscriber a warning communication detailing the alleged copyright infringement as reported by the copyright owner and advising the subscriber of the potential consequences of continued alleged infringing activity. Verizon will not disclose personally identifiable information about a subscriber to the copyright owner absent receipt by Verizon of lawful legal process, such as an appropriate judicially issued subpoena or order. 

Requests to participate in the Verizon Anti-Piracy Cooperation Program may be submitted to:

Verizon Anti-Piracy Cooperation Program
Verizon Copyright Department
1300 I Street NW, Suite 500 East
Washington, DC 20005, U.S.A.

VZACP@verizon.com

No other emails should be sent to this inbox other than those containing a request to participate in, or other inquiries above, the Verizon Anti-Piracy Cooperation Program. Verizon will not review, process, or otherwise take action on any email sent to this inbox unless it is a request about that program.

For more information about these options for submitting conduit notices, please visit Verizon’s Copyright FAQ page. Verizon will only accept and process allegations of copyright infringement involving P2P and similar activities that are alleged to occur over conduit facilities using one of these two options. Verizon does not accept or process such notices sent in other ways or using other formats.

We urge copyright owners to use the appropriate available process to address their concerns and appreciate their cooperation.

Conduit Notice Verification:

We encourage copyright owners to verify that, in sending notices, they are following industry best practices and exercising proper due diligence to ensure that the targeted subscriber of the notice is in fact engaged in infringing activity before sending a notice to Verizon. Verizon’s two voluntary notice forwarding options are not required by the DMCA, or any other provision of law. Verizon expressly reserves all rights under the DMCA.

Repeat Infringer Policy

Pursuant to Section 512 of the DMCA, it is Verizon's policy to terminate the account of repeat copyright infringers in appropriate circumstances. The following provides guidance on the circumstances where Verizon will consider termination:

1. If a court of competent jurisdiction has issued a final judgment finding that a Verizon subscriber is a repeat infringer of one or more copyrighted works, once that judgment is no longer subject to appeal.
2. If a properly served court order requires Verizon to terminate a subscriber’s Internet access.
3. If a subscriber admits that the subscriber is using Verizon’s Internet access to carry out repeated acts of copyright infringement and refuses to stop such use.
4. If a subscriber (i) has received multiple valid takedown notices of alleged copyright infringement pursuant to subsections 512(b), 512(c), or 512(d), (ii) has not served a valid counter-notification, (iii) after receiving warnings from Verizon, refuses to comply with Verizon’s demands that the alleged infringing activity stop per Verizon’s terms of service and acceptable use policy, and (iv) continues to receive valid takedown notices alleging copyright infringement.
5. If a subscriber (i) has received multiple notices of alleged copyright infringement related to circumstances in which Verizon acts only as a conduit (within the meaning of subsection 512(a) of the DMCA) through either a properly completed Conduit Notice Form or Verizon’s Anti-Piracy Cooperation Program (ii) after receiving warnings from Verizon, refuses to comply with Verizon’s demands that the alleged infringing activity stop per Verizon’s terms of service and acceptable use policy, and (iii) continues to receive conduit notices through either a properly completed Conduit Notice Form or Verizon’s Anti-Piracy Cooperation Program. Verizon does not consider conduit notices sent through any other means, such as an email to its DMCA@verizon.com email inbox, for purposes of determining whether and when to terminate a subscriber under this subsection.