DMCA copyright basics for Roblox and Fortnite creative developers

DMCA strikes!

👎 You’ve received one.

👎 You’ve been threatened with one.

💡 Or you’ve thought about filing one yourself.

⚡ There’s a lot of misconceptions about the DMCA and DMCA strikes. I’m going to try to clear some of that up.

👉 DMCA stands for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The DMCA covers copyrighted material. This could be videos, music, art or pictures. You’ve probably heard of a “DMCA notice.” Sometimes these are called “DMCA takedowns” or “DMCA strikes.”

👉 A DMCA notice is where the copyright holder informs the web host or internet service provider that they are hosting infringing material. For example, let’s say you upload a game on Roblox, that involves a series of punching Marios that you have to dodge. The Marios look just like Nintendo’s Mario—blue overalls, red shirt, white gloves, red hat with the “M” logo.

⚠ Nintendo is fiercely protective of its copyrights. They will send a DMCA notice to Roblox, and Roblox will take the game down.

❓ But how exactly does that process work?

❓ And does that mean Nintendo can’t sue you?

❓ And why does the web host (in this case Roblox) have to comply with the DMCA notice anyway?

👌 I’ll go through this and additional questions in my next posts.