University Advisory on Compliance with Copyright Law and DMCA
Harvard is committed to maintaining the integrity and availability of its network for the vital educational and research purposes for which it was designed.
Overview
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") of 1998 endeavors to balance the interests of internet service providers and copyright owners when copyright infringement occurs in the digital environment. The DMCA protects internet service providers from liability for copyright infringement by their users, if the internet service provider meets certain statutory requirements.
Copyright Policy
All Harvard users must respect the copyrights in works that are accessible through computers connected to the Harvard network.
Annual Copyright Disclosure: Key Takeaways
Do not use peer-to-peer file-sharing programs to share copyrighted works without permission.
If you share copyrighted material without permission, you may subject yourself to significant costs and possible criminal penalties.
If you are associated with repeat infringements, Harvard University may terminate your network access and refer you for disciplinary action
More about the DMCA and legal sources of online content
FAQs
- Is it legal to download copyrighted materials on my computer?
- What is “fair use”, and how does it apply to copyright law?
- Is it legal to store copyrighted materials on my computer?
- I have been notified that my computer is sharing copyrighted materials, but I am not aware that I had them on my system or that I was sharing them with others. How can this be?