Notice-and-notice

Nicolo Zingales

Notice-and-notice is a process to deal with potential infringing content, a regime that became more widely known after being established in Canada’s Copyright Act¹. It is an alternative to the notice-and-takedown model that works as follows: after a decision by the platform to remove content through private notification, the user is given the option to counter-notify and personally take responsibility for maintaining the content online, in which case the platform is exempt (de Souza, Schirru, 2016)². According to Valente (2019)³, it is a model that distributes responsibilities in order to try to contemplate both the users and the (copy)rights holder, who wants a faster mechanism for notification and the possibility of removing infringing (copy)right content.

In a notice-and-notice system, providers forward to users the notifications made by right holders regarding alleged violations of rights practiced by these users, without summary removal of the content (as in the case of notice-and-takedown). Proponents of the notice-and-notice system, like the Canada model, argue that this process would eliminate flaws in the notice-and-takedown system (Geist, 2011)⁴.

ARTICLE 19 (2013)⁵ argues that this system would have good results when dealing with civil complaints regarding copyright, defamation, privacy, adult content, and bullying (instead of harassment or threats of violence). In their view, this system, in the worst-case scenario, would give content providers the opportunity to respond to allegations of violations of the law before any action is taken; it would contribute to reducing the number of abusive requests, as it requires a minimum of information about the allegations; and it would provide an intermediary system for resolving disputes before matters reach the courts.

References

1. Government of Canada (2017). Notice and Notice Regime. Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2014/06/notice-notice-regime.html.

   Government of Canada (2018). Notice and Notice Regime. Available at: https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/Oca-bc.nsf/eng/ca02920.html. 

2. de Souza, A., Schirru, L. (2016). Os direitos autorais no marco civil da internet. Liinc em Revista, 12(1). Available at: http://revista.ibict.br/liinc/article/view/3712/3132.
3. Valente, Mariana (2019). Direito autoral e plataformas de Internet: um assunto em aberto. Available at: https://www.internetlab.org.br/pt/especial/direito-autoral-e-plataformas-de-internet-um-assunto-em-aberto/.
4. Geist, Michael (2011). ‘Rogers Provides New Evidence on Effectiveness of Notice-and-Notice System’ Available at: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5703/125/.
5. Article 19. (2013). Internet intermediaries: Dilemma of Liability. Available at: https://www.article19.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Intermediaries_ENGLISH.pdf.