Legal
- Acceptable Use Policy
- Backup Power Disclosure
- Best Effort SLA
- Copper Retirement Notice
- Copyright Infringement
- DSL Modem Agreement
- Enterprise SLA
- High Risk Call Blocking
- Lifeline Guidelines
- Network Abuse
- Privacy Policy
- Protection Plan Agreement
- Smithville Internet Transparency Policy
- Statement of Non-discrimination
- Tariffs
- Terms of Use
- Video Submission Policy
- Wholesale Broadband Terms and Conditions
- Wholesale Fiber Terms and Conditions
Copyright Infringement
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 addresses the remedies available to copyright owners and the responsibilities of Internet service providers (ISPs). Under the Act, a copyright owner claiming that unauthorized material is stored on a system or network controlled by an ISP may provide specific notice of such claim to the ISP’s Designated Agent and request that the infringing material be removed or that access to the stored material be blocked.
If you believe in good faith you have such a claim, please promptly notify Smithville’s Designated Agent:
Coordinator of Security & Copyright Infringement
1600 West Temperance Street
Ellettsville, IN 47429
Email: copyright@smithville.com
To be effective under the Act, your notification must be made in writing or by email and must include the following:
- Identification of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;
- Identification of the material that you claim is infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit Smithville to locate the page or site holding the material;
- Information reasonably sufficient to permit Smithville to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and if available, an electronic mail address;
- A statement that you believe in good faith that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
- A statement under penalty of perjury that the information in the notification is accurate and that you are either the owner of an exclusive right that has allegedly been infringed or are authorized to act on behalf of such owner; and,
- Your physical or electronic signature (as either the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed, or as a person legally authorized to act on behalf of such owner);
Before you provide Smithville with notification of a claimed infringement, you should carefully review your claim to ensure that it is accurate and made in good faith. Under the Act, there are substantial penalties for false claims.
If you received a notice from Smithville regarding a claim of infringement, you may take the following steps to resolve the issue in order to prevent further action by Smithville.
- Immediately locate the material in question, and remove the infringing material yourself; or
- contact the complaining party to resolve the issue so that he/she withdraws the complaint and notifies Smithville of such in writing.
Please do not send legal arguments to Smithville. Smithville does not determine the validity of copyright complaints; the actions taken by Smithville are specifically prescribed by the DMCA, not the result of a determination by Smithville of the merits of any claim.
If your material is removed and you believe in good faith that such claim has been wrongly made against you by the claiming party, you may submit a counter-notice to Smithville. You should provide your counter-notification to:
Coordinator of Security & Copyright Infringement
1600 West Temperance Street
Ellettsville, IN 47429
Email: copyright@smithville.com
A counter-notification under the DCMA must contain the following information:
- 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 the Member has 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 the federal district court for the federal district in which you are located, and that you will accept service of process from the complainant.
If Smithville receives a valid counter-notification, the DMCA provides that the removed material will be restored (or the account re-activated) after a waiting period of at least 10, and not more than 14, days unless the complaining party obtains injunctive relief stopping the re-posting of the material.
Before you provide us with a counter-notification denying a claim of Infringement, you should carefully review your statement to ensure that it is accurate and made in good faith. Challenges to claims of infringement must be substantiated in court to withstand the claims by the copyright owner.
Please note: Do not send any other notices, including notifications of account termination, service complaints or any other communications, to the Designated Agent. The Designated Agent is appointed solely for the purpose of receiving and reviewing claims of online copyright infringement made pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Further, as noted above, please do not send legal arguments to Smithville or attempt to contest the merits of a particular claim. The DMCA does not appoint ISPs to decide copyright complaints. Non-DMCA notices received by the Designated Agent will be deleted with no further action.
