The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under United States copyright law. This law is of particular interest to BELD Broadband customers who download materials from the Internet. Click here to review the law.

Possession of copyrighted materials not belonging to you is also a violation of your BELD Broadband terms of service agreement and as such is grounds for termination of your service, specifically as follows: "End User agrees not to post, forward, or transmit any information that infringes another person's copyright, or otherwise violates copyright laws. The Designated Agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is Robert J. Sargent, 150 Potter Road, Braintree, MA 02184. 781/348-2320 bsargent@beld.com."

Proper written notification from a copyright owner must include:

• The name, address and electronic signature of the complaining party
• Sufficient information to identify the copyrighted work or works
• The infringing matter and its Internet location
• A statement by the owner that it has a good faith belief that there is no legal basis for the use of the materials complained of
• A statement of the accuracy of the notice and, under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner

It is BELD Broadband's policy to terminate BELD Broadband subscribers and account holders who are repeat infringers of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.