DMCA Takedown Notice as a Legal Instrument for the Protection of Copyright and Related Rights in the Internet

Problem setting. There is increasingly common problem of protection of copyrights and related rights in the Internet nowadays. Active development of information technologies creates more space for violations of the copyrights and thereby complicates the process of finding the proper defendant for such violations. After all, we should agree, by posting infringing content on the site, we are faced with at least three individuals associated with the violation: the owner of the site (domain name owner), the administrator of the site and the service provider. Sometimes violations are occured on the part of ordinary Internet users, who placed copyrighted information on the network without proper permission. Facing similar problem most authors refuse to protect their violated rights precisely because of the lack of immediate and effective mechanisms that would meet the "laws" of the Internet. This issue is discussed urgently in Ukraine because pirate sites and file-sharing sites with copyrights and related rights infringing content still remain popular among domestic Internet users. Analysis of resent researches and publications. The questions related to operation of special mechanisms for protection of copyright in the Internet, including DMCA takedown notice, were engaged in researches of such domestic scientists as Y. M. Kapitsa, O. A. Rassomakhina, K. S. Shahbazian, E. V. Gorian, K. V. Gorian. I. Samokhodskyi also expressed his thoughts regarding the use of the DMCA in realities of Ukrainian legislation. Article's main body. DMCA takedown notice is a truly universal international legal instrument for the protection of copyrights and related rights in the Internet. Its versatility lies in the fact that any person regardless of citizenship can submit such takedown notice. DMCA also requires from the service providers to comply with the special operational requirements and sets forth the ?Safe harbor? provisions on limitation of their liability. Conclusions and prospects for the development. This protection mechanism is already quite common among copyrights owners. However, today there are some problems with its implementation on the service provider's level, which will cause the amendments of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the near future.