Victor Elias Photography, LLC v. Ice Portal, Inc.

Section 1202(b) of the Copyright Act, as amended by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), provides that “[n]o person shall, without the authority of the copyright owner or the law: (1) intentionally remove or alter any cop.yright. management information...knowing, or...having reasonable grounds to know, that it will induce, enable, facilitate, or conceal an infringement of any right under this title.” 17 U.S.C. § 1202(b). Section 1202(c) of the statute defines “copyright management information” (CMI) to include “information conveyed in connection with copies...of a work...in digital form” such as the “title,” “name of...the author,” and “[identifying numbers or symbols referring to such information or links to such information.” 17 U.S.C. §1202. The question presented is: Whether a plaintiff alleging a violation of § 1202(b) is required to demonstrate that the defendant’s “intentionalQ remov[al] or alter[ation]” of CMI “conveyed in connection with copies of [the plaintiffs] work” was connected, linked or associated in some identifiable way to known instances of infringement, even though the plain language of the statute contains no such requirement.