In 1998, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which amended U.S. copyright law (The Copyright Act of 1976) to address important parts of the relationship between copyright and the internet. The three main updates to copyright law were:

• establishing protections for online service providers in certain situations if their users engage in copyright infringement, including by creating the notice-and-takedown system, which allows copyright owners to inform online service providers about infringing material so it can be taken down;

• encouraging copyright owners to give greater access to their works in digital formats by providing them with legal protections against unauthorized access to their works (for example, hacking passwords or circumventing encryption); and

• making it unlawful to provide false copyright management information (for example, names of authors and copyright owners, titles of works) or to remove or alter that type of information in certain circumstances.

The DMCA is in the United States Code (federal statutes) at 17 U.S.C. §§512, 1201-1205, 1301-1332; and 28 U.S.C. §4001.

In Iowa, as in all states, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 is a federal statute that applies uniformly across the country, including within the state. The DMCA provides a legal framework that balances the interests of copyright owners, online service providers, and users of copyrighted material on the internet. It offers safe harbor protections to online service providers, such as internet service providers and website hosts, if they comply with the notice-and-takedown system. This system requires service providers to remove or disable access to infringing material when notified by copyright owners. Additionally, the DMCA protects copyright owners by making it illegal to circumvent technological measures that control access to copyrighted works and by prohibiting the provision or alteration of false copyright management information. These provisions are designed to deter and address digital piracy while promoting the lawful use and dissemination of copyrighted content in digital formats. As federal law, the DMCA preempts state law in these areas, and attorneys in Iowa must advise their clients in accordance with the DMCA's requirements.