Consequences of Copyright Infringement

University of Tennessee Consequences

Sharing copyrighted works without permission is expressly prohibited in the University of Tennessee Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources Policy #IT0110.

The University of Tennessee does not police or monitor its users for copyright violations; however, under the provisions of the DMCA UT is a content-neutral internet service provider (ISP) and is required to take action when a DMCA complaint from a content owner is received.

In those situations in which UT receives information sufficient to track an alleged copyright offender (e.g. an IP address and date/time of incident), the following procedure applies:

• 1st Offense
  On the first offense, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) contacts the student and does the following:
  • Explains why the alleged behavior is illegal and against University policy.
  • Instructs the student to clean the illegal material from his/her computer system.
  • Advises the student of future consequences should the offense be repeated.
• 2nd Offense
  
  • The student's network connection is disabled.
  • The student is required to take the system to the OIT Service Center to demonstrate that the copyrighted material(s) have been removed.
  • The student is advised of the seriousness of future consequences should the offense be repeated.
• 3rd Offense
  
  • The network connection of the allegedly infringing computer is disabled immediately
  • The incident is reported to Student Judicial Affairs (SJA). SJA may impose sanctions in addition to those imposed by OIT.
  • The student is also required to take the system to the OIT Service Center to again prove the copyrighted material(s) have been removed.

Legal Consequences

Copyright violations are against US laws and international treaties, including but not limited to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and other US copyright laws.

How you get caught

The University of Tennessee does not police or monitor its users for copyright violations, nor is it UT's procedure to notify copyright holders of potentially infringing behavior should any potentially infringing activity be discovered during the course of normal operations.

Most copyright holders are represented by agencies such as the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America. These agencies employ technological means to track and monitor peer-to-peer networks, usually by connecting to the networks as another "peer" in the network. When they monitor a computer transferring potentially infringing material, the date, time, content, and address of the infringing computer is recorded. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) that manages the network to which the allegedly infringing computer belongs is served with a copyright notice, typically under the DMCA. Provided the information provided is sufficient, the ISP (e.g. UT) then takes immediate action to take down the offending material (see UT's procedures above).

Note that during these proceedings, the University of Tennessee does not disclose the identies of its users to copyright holders. However, should the copyright holders choose to do so, they can initiate a legal process that includes serving a subpoena to UT to discover the identity of an alleged infringer.

What could happen?

Essentially, you could be sued. The copyright holders may be entitled to $750 - $30,000 per work under US copyright law. Many copyright holders, such as the RIAA, often chose to offer a settlement to the alleged infringer, but this is their choice and should not necessarily be expected.

See a Settlement Letter that was received by some UT students (identifying information redacted for privacy reasons)

Read some recent stories about file sharing and UT students:

• Music sharing costs UT student $3,000
• 15 students hit with lawsuits
• Suing downloaders

Watch the IT Security File Sharing and Copyright Awareness Video.