St. Norbert College Policy and Procedures Relating to Copyright Infringement Claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

When St. Norbert College receives a copyright infringement claim involving music, video, software, or other digital materials, it takes the following steps under the 1998 federal statute known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or DMCA:

• We check network usage logs and registration information to determine the system alleged to be involved in copyright infringement and we identify the person who registered that system to operate on our network.
• We suspend the system’s Internet access, allowing continued access to on-campus resources such as e-mail, web server, and instructional materials.
• We do not disclose the user's identity to the complainant.
• We send a letter via e-mail to the individual responsible for the allegedly offending system.  In that letter we include the letter of complaint and a copy of relevant policies, and ask that the individual perform the following:
  
  
  • carefully read the policies;
  • carefully read the letter of complaint;
  • remove the file sharing software and all illegally-obtained materials;
  • write a letter to the Director of Information Technology indicating that the above-mentioned items have been accomplished, that the individual understands St. Norbert College policies, and that the individual agrees to adhere to them;
  • meet with the Director of Information Technology to discuss the situation.
• Upon satisfaction of the requirements in the letter, Internet service to the system is restored.  Copies of the communications are maintained in the student’s files.

Non-compliance by the individual will result in forwarding the situation for subsequent disciplinary action to the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs for students or the Human Resources Office for employees.

Repeated violation of these policies will result in additional disciplinary action.

More information about file sharing and copyright infringement, including information about College policies and copyright laws and penalties, may be found on the File Sharing and Copyright Infringement page.

Approved by the Information Services Advisory Committee, November 2009.

Printable version of this page