The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA) is a U.S. law that limits the liability of online service providers for the copyright infringement caused by their users and provides a framework for removing content online that infringes copyrights.
To qualify, online service providers such as Vimeo must do —and not do — certain things to not be liable for copyright infringement of others. The most well-known aspects of the DMCA are its requirements that a service provider removes materials after it receives a notice of infringement, and has (and implements) a policy to deter repeat infringement.
In particular, we must promptly remove videos when properly notified by copyright holders and terminate the accounts of repeat infringers. Our policy for handling DMCA claims has been in place since the start of the company.
The DMCA doesn’t just protect big companies, it also protects creators who don’t have the resources to file copyright lawsuits. To have the content removed from a platform like Vimeo, a creator need only send a takedown notice. On the other hand, we wouldn’t be able to provide an open platform for creators if we were liable for every one of the millions of videos our users uploaded.
Learn how at How do I send a DMCA takedown notice?.