Social media sites are transforming not only the daily lives of consumers, but also how companies interact with consumers. Here at Morrison Foerster, across all of our practice groups, we are seeing complex, cutting-edge legal issues arising out of social media. As with the Internet boom during the mid-to-late 1990s, social media is generating new legal questions at a far faster pace than the law’s ability to provide answers to such questions. In an effort to stay on top of these emerging issues, and to keep our clients and friends informed of new developments, Morrison Foerster publishes this blog devoted to the law and business of social media.<h2>ABOUT MORRISON FOERSTER</h2>Morrison Foerster is a leading global law firm that transforms complexity into advantage for its clients. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, banks, consulting and accounting firms, and Fortune 100, technology, and life sciences companies. Highlighting the firm’s commitment to client service, leadership in market-changing deals and impact litigation, and values-based culture, Morrison Foerster has been repeatedly recognized as one of the top 10 firms on The American Lawyer’s A-List. Year after year, the firm receives significant recognition from Chambers and The Legal 500 across their various guides, including Global, USA, Asia‑Pacific, Europe, UK, Latin America, and FinTech Legal. Our lawyers passionately care about delivering legal excellence while living our values. Morrison Foerster has a long-standing commitment to creating a culture that respects and celebrates differences, while providing an inclusive environment. The firm has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus since 2018 as a result of successfully reaching at least 30 percent women, communities of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyer representation in a notable number of current leadership roles and committees. The firm also has a long history of commitment to the community and society through providing pro bono legal services, including litigating for civil rights and civil liberties, improving public education and fostering the wellbeing of children, advocating for veterans, promoting international human rights, enforcing the right to asylum, and safeguarding the environment.

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Aaron is the chair of the firm’s Technology Transactions Group and co-chair of the Interactive + Digital Media Group. He advises clients on a wide range of complex transactions involving intellectual property and technology, including structuring and negotiating strategic licensing, development, collaboration, procurement, and distribution deals.Aaron’s practice focuses on advising both established and emerging companies in a variety of data- and technology-intensive sectors, including software, SaaS, cloud-based technology, digital media (social media, AR/VR, gaming, streaming media, AdTech), AI, healthcare, consumer electronics, e-commerce, other online business models, and mobile applications. He also maintains an active practice counseling companies on branding and marketing, trademark licensing, and content-related transactions, as well as the intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions, asset spin-offs, and private equity investments.He has represented clients such as Autodesk, Meta, OpenAI, Splunk, Konami, Kaiser Permanente, SoftBank, Visa, and Yahoo, among others.Aaron has been recognized by numerous publications for his work on market-defining technology transactions. He is currently ranked by Chambers USA for “Technology Transactions.”Aaron also serves as co-editor of Socially Aware, the firm’s award-winning newsletter and blog devoted to the law and business of social media, and regularly publishes on various IP and technology-related topics. Aaron is also a sought-after speaker on new and emerging areas of law, and is a frequent presenter and panelist at conferences and legal services programs. In addition to his active practice, Aaron regularly provides pro bono assistance to various nonprofit and charitable organizations such as Common Sense Media and the Starlight Children’s Foundation. He is a member of the board of directors of California Lawyers for the Arts.While in law school at the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, Aaron served as executive editor of the California Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Following law school, Aaron served as law clerk to the Honorable William H. Orrick and the Honorable Martin J. Jenkins, both United States District Judges for the Northern District of California.

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Aaron is the chair of our Technology Transactions Group. He advises clients on a wide range of complex transactions involving intellectual property and technology, including structuring and negotiating strategic licensing, development, collaboration, procurement, and distribution deals. Aaron’s practice focuses on advising both established and emerging companies in a variety of data– and technology–intensive sectors, including software, SaaS, cloud computing, AR/VR, AI, gaming, healthcare, consumer electronics, social media, e–commerce, other online business models, and mobile applications. He also maintains an active practice counseling companies on the intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions, asset spin–offs, and private equity investments.

Aaron P. Rubin

Lawrence Gallick is of counsel in the firm’s Austin office and a member of the Technology Transactions Group.Lawrence focuses his practice on technology transactions and licensing matters. His diverse experience includes advising on SaaS agreements, cross-licensing agreements, research and collaboration agreements, development agreements, and distribution agreements. He counsels a broad range of companies across the software, hardware, life sciences, biotech and FinTech spaces, as well as other entities including universities.He advises clients in connection with general corporate matters including contract negotiations, and leasing and technology placement agreements.Lawrence also serves as co-editor of <a href="https://www.sociallyawareblog.com/" target="_blank">Socially Aware</a>, the firm’s award-winning newsletter and blog devoted to the law and business of social media, and regularly publishes on various IP and technology-related topics.Prior to joining the firm, Lawrence was counsel at another major law firm. Before earning his law degree, Lawrence was a web consultant, project manager, and web developer in Portland, Oregon, where he managed and consulted on projects using industry methodologies and performed custom development and integration of content management systems.Lawrence was named a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in 2015 and 2018–2022, and is licensed in both California and New York. Lawrence earned his J.D. from the University at Buffalo School of Law, where he was the electronic systems editor for the Buffalo Law Review and awarded the ABA-BNA Award for Excellence in the Study of Intellectual Property Law.

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Lawrence Gallick

Anthony Ramirez is a partner in the Technology Transactions Group in the New York office of Morrison Foerster.Anthony advises clients on general commercial and transactional matters. He regularly advises companies on the IP aspects of their M&A transactions. His clients include technology, digital media and content for television and music, financial services, and communications companies with diverse intellectual property assets and issues.His practice focuses on the legal aspects of developing, licensing, and commercializing technology and intellectual property, as well as negotiating general commercial contracts, including outsourcing transactions, as well as content and data licenses. He regularly assists clients with legal issues relating to licensing and commercialization of digital media and content, digital content that is distributed over the Internet or streamed, mobile applications and social media, as well as the licensing of recorded music for distribution via digital platforms. Anthony is also experienced with issues relating to open-source software, software development, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cloud-based technology, and protection of proprietary information.Anthony has extensive experience working on matters involving disruptive technologies, such as blockchain. He has helped fintech clients with general intellectual property issues in connection with terms of service for online financial products and services.Anthony is an integral part of the outside pro bono legal team for nonprofit organizations based in New York, including advising clients on legal issues regarding entertainment, social media, privacy rights, and the negotiation of outsourcing and service agreements. Anthony received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 2009. He received his B.S. from Cornell University in 2004.

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Anthony Ramirez is a partner in the Technology Transactions Group in the New York office of Morrison Foerster. He advises clients on general commercial and transactional matters. His clients include technology, media, and communications companies with considerable intellectual property assets. His practice focuses on the legal aspects of licensing and commercializing technology and intellectual property, as well as negotiating general commercial contracts. He also regularly assists clients with legal issues relating to mobile applications and social media.

Anthony M. Ramirez

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If your company operates a website or blog that hosts user-generated content, you’ll want to read this post carefully. We’re ringing the alarm bell on an import

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New Copyright Office Rule Creates Potential “Gotcha” for Blogs and Websites Hosting User-Generated Content

New Copyright Office Rule Creates Potential “Gotcha” for Blogs and Websites Hosting User-Generated Content | Socially Aware

If your company operates a website or blog that hosts user-generated content, you’ll want to read this post carefully.We’re ringing the alarm bell on an important new U.S. copyright law development that, if ignored, could significantly increase your company’s potential liability exposure in connection with user-generated content.If your company hosts user-generated content, such hosted content may include materials that were posted without the permission of the owners of the copyrights in such materials—potentially subjecting your company to copyright infringement liability.For nearly two decades, however, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/512" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Section 512(c) of the U.S. Copyright Act</a>, enacted in 1998 as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), has provided a safe harbor insulating online service providers from monetary damages for hosting copyright-infringing materials posted by their users. To receive protection under the Section 512(c) safe harbor, service providers must, among other things, designate an agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement with the Copyright Office.If a website operator fails to so designate an agent for its website, that operator runs the risk of incurring monetary damages for copyright-infringing materials hosted on its site. So, if your company is hosting user-generated content, it’s important to have designated an agent with the Copyright Office.By our rough count, over 100,000 online service providers have designated agents with the Copyright Office. Under the Copyright Office’s “interim” regulations that had been in effect since the DMCA’s enactment, a service provider would register by filling out a paper form and filing the completed form with the Copyright Office.Just last week, however, the U.S. Copyright Office rolled out a <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new online system</a> for the designation of agents to receive notifications of copyright infringement. The new system, effective as of December 1, 2016, replaces the old paper-based system. Under the system, an online service provider with an agent registered through the old system must also register that agent through the new system by December 31, 2017, in order to maintain a valid designation. Failure to do so by that deadline could result in the online service provider no longer receiving the benefits of the Section 512(c) safe harbor in connection with its hosting of user-generated content, at least until such provider finally gets around to registering through the new system.Moreover, going forward, online service providers will need to renew their agent designations every three years in order to maintain safe harbor protection in connection with their hosting of user-generated content. There was no such periodic renewal obligation under the old system.Why is the Copyright Office doing this? Although by no means perfect, the old system was relatively easy to use and has worked well for bloggers and website operators ever since Bill Clinton was president. Why fix something that isn’t broken, particularly if, in fixing the system, this risk is created of online service providers losing safe harbor protection? Not surprisingly, the Copyright Office’s actions have generated <a href="http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2016/10/copyright-office-gratuitously-kills-the-dmca-safe-harbor-for-thousands-of-websites.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some blistering criticism</a> from Internet law pundits.The Copyright Office, however, apparently believes that the system was in fact broken due to the failure of online service providers to keep their agent designation information up to date. For example, in announcing its new registration system, the Copyright Office <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/newsnet/2016/640.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted that it had found</a> that 22 percent of existing agent designations were for defunct service providers and that, with respect to non-defunct service providers, an estimated 65 percent of their agent designations contained inaccurate information. The new system seeks to address this problem by allowing service providers to more efficiently submit and update designated agent information through the use of an online system and by requiring periodic renewals of designations.Perhaps in an effort to further incentivize online service providers to keep their records updated, the cost of designation under the new system will be cheaper than under the old system. Each paper form designation under the old system would have cost a service provider $105, not including additional fees to list non-legal names used by the service provider. Under the new online system, the designation fee is <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/newsnet/2016/640.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$6 with no additional fee for alternative names</a>. This same fee would apply to each renewal of an agent designation.The Copyright Office’s new approach also expands the options available to online service providers in designating an agent. Under the old system, service providers were required to name a natural person or a specific position or title. The new regulations provide that a designated agent may be an individual, a specific position or title held by an individual, or a specific department within the service provider’s organization or within a third-party entity.The Copyright Office has released a <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/help.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">series of tutorials</a> to assist online service providers in registering an agent under the new system. The Copyright Office regulations adopting the new system can be found <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/11/01/2016-26257/designation-of-agent-to-receive-notification-of-claimed-infringement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.Here are our key takeaways regarding this important development:<ul><li>If your company hosts, stores or even links to user-generated content, it should ensure that it has registered an agent with the Copyright Office. If your company has never registered an agent, it should do so under the new system.</li><li>Even if your company has already registered its DMCA agent with the Copyright Office, if that registration was done under the old paper-based system, it will need to re-register under the new agent designation system by December 31, 2017.</li><li>After registering under the new system, online service providers will need to ensure that they observe the “every three years” deadlines for renewing their registrations.</li><li>Until January 1, 2018, copyright owners seeking to determine whether a blog or website hosting infringing user-generated content is in compliance with the DMCA agent designation requirement will want to check both the <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/a_agents.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">old directory</a> and the <a href="https://dmca.copyright.gov/osp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new directory</a>—prior to 2018, it should be sufficient that the requisite agent designation appears in either of the two directories.</li></ul>*          *          *For other Socially Aware blog posts on DMCA agent designation issues, please see: <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2016/01/14/new-court-decision-highlights-potential-headache-for-companies-hosting-user-generated-content/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Court Decision Highlights Potential Headache for Companies Hosting User-Generated Content</a>; and <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2014/06/24/court-holds-that-dmca-safe-harbors-do-not-extend-to-infringement-prior-to-designation-of-agent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Court Holds That DMCA Safe Harbor Does Not Extend to Infringement Prior to Designation of Agent</a>. For a recent blog post on risk issues surrounding user-generated content, please see: <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2016/08/10/ugcrisk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Commercializing User-Generated Content: Five Risk Reduction Strategies</a>.