Copyright Owners' Procedure for Submitting a Copyright Infringement Claim
Subscribers and Alleged Copyright Infringers
Frequently Asked Questions
How to Dispute an Alleged Infringement

FOR COPYRIGHT OWNERS:

Procedure for Submitting a Copyright Infringement Claim - Suddenlink Hosted Material

Suddenlink Communications is registered under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 ("DMCA") (See 17 U.S.C. § 512). Under the DMCA, copyright owners have the right to notify Suddenlink Communications if they believe that a Suddenlink Communications customer has infringed the copyright owner's works(s). If you believe that a Suddenlink Communications' customer has posted or otherwise copied your work on a Suddenlink server ("Suddenlink Hosted Material") in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, you may file a Notification of Claimed Infringement with Suddenlink Communications' designated DMCA agent. The DMCA provides the following procedure for parties to follow who wish to file a Notification of Claimed Infringement with Suddenlink Communications.

To serve a Notification of Claimed Infringement on Suddenlink Communications or any affiliated entities, send your Notification to:

Designated Agent:
Johnna Turner

Address to which Notification should be sent:
Suddenlink Communications
6151 Paluxy Drive
Tyler, TX 75703
Attn: DMCA Agent

Telephone Number:
(877) 386-6498

Email address:
DMCA@Suddenlink.net

All copyright complaints should be sent to pursuant to the above. No other communications will be accepted or responded to.

To be effective under the DMCA, the Notification of Claimed Infringement must be a written communication provided to Suddenlink Communications' designated agent and must include the following information:

1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single Notification, a representative list of such works at that site.
3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and the infringing IP address, time, date, and the time zone to permit Suddenlink Communications to locate the material.
4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit Suddenlink Communications to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number and if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.
5. A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
6. A statement that the information in the Notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Upon receipt of a Notification of Copyright Infringement from a copyright owner that contains the required information described in 1 through 6 above, Suddenlink Communications may notify the customer of the alleged infringement, and, if hosted on a Suddenlink Communications domain, remove or disable access to the material that is alleged to be infringing. No personal customer information is shared with the copyright owner unless required by law. Suddenlink Communications does not promise or undertake any duty to do any of the foregoing, except as required by applicable law.

Procedure for Submitting a Copyright Infringement Claim - Illegal File Sharing (e.g., Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Communications):

Copyright owners may also notify Suddenlink Communications if they believe that a Suddenlink Communications customer has infringed the copyright owner's work(s) by way of sharing, downloading, or uploading copyright protected material with others even when that material is not stored on a Suddenlink server or hosted website. If you believe that a Suddenlink Communications' customer has shared, downloaded or uploaded material in a manner that constitutes copyright infringement, you may also file a Notification of Claimed Infringement with Suddenlink Communications' designated DMCA agent listed above, preferably via e-mail, specifically noting that the alleged infringement pertains to P2P file transfer(s). Please understand that with respect to P2P file transfer(s), Suddenlink Communications has no technical ability or process for removing or disabling access to the alleged infringing material resident on a customer's computer as would be the case for Suddenlink-hosted materials.

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FOR ALLEGED COPYRIGHT INFRINGERS:

1. Procedure to respond to an allegation of illegal file sharing (e.g., peer to peer communications):
   
   If you receive a notification from Suddenlink of alleged infringement by file sharing, as described above, and you believe in good faith that the allegedly infringing Copyrighted Material was not shared from your IP address, then you should contact the owner directly at the address provided in the notification that you received, and also advise us.
   
   
2. Procedure to File a DMCA Counter-notification for Suddenlink-Hosted Materials:
   
   If, however, you have received a notice of copyright infringement regarding material that you allegedly placed on Suddenlink's servers, and you believe that a copyright holder has accused you in error, you may file a DMCA counter-notification form with Suddenlink Communications' designated agent listed above.
   
   To be effective, a Counter-notification must be a written communication provided to Suddenlink Communications' designated agent in the attached and must include the following information:
   
   1. A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
   2. Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
   3. A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
   4. The subscriber's name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber's address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification or an agent of such person.

Upon receipt of a DMCA Counter-notification, Suddenlink Communications will provide the complaining party with a copy of the DMCA Counter-notification. When you send the DMCA Counter-notification to Suddenlink Communications, Suddenlink Communications forwards this Counter-notification intact to the copyright owner and/or its agent. The copyright owner and/or its agent will then be aware of your identity, and may elect to initiate legal action against you including, but not limited to, a copyright infringement lawsuit seeking money damages. By submitting this Counter-notification to Suddenlink Communications, you expressly acknowledge that you understand and accept the forwarding of this Counter-notification to the complaining party, and you expressly agree that Suddenlink Communications will not be a party to any disputes or lawsuits regarding alleged copyright infringement.

NOTE: The information on this page is provided to you for informational purpose only, and is not intended as legal advice. If you believe your rights under United States copyright law have been infringed or are different from those stated herein, or, you may wish to consult with your attorney.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

HAVE YOU RECEIVED A COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT NOTICE FROM SUDDENLINK?
NEED TO KNOW MORE?

1. I received a letter that says my computer was used to illegally share copyrighted material over the Internet. What does this mean?
   Your Internet network connection was discovered to have been used to illegally transfer (download or upload) a movie, song, television show, video game and/or other copyrighted software in a way that violates a copyright owner's rights on a specific date at a particular time. Movies, songs, television shows, video game and/or other copyrighted software (collectively "Copyrighted Material") are protected by law from copying without the permission of the owner. The sharing of these files through your IP connection violates your Residential Service Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy with Suddenlink, which is why you received the notice.



2. I have no idea how this could have happened. I've never downloaded an illegal version of Copyrighted Material. How could I have received this letter?
   It is not necessary that you personally download or uploaded an illegal version of Copyrighted Material. Rather, it has been determined that copyright protected files have been illegally shared through your IP connection identified by your IP address associated with your modem and subscriber account. First, you need to ensure that your IP connection is secure, especially if you use a wireless router; second, you need to be sure that anyone who has access to your Internet access service, modem, router or IP connection is not illegally transferring Copyrighted Material; and third, it is not necessary for you to download material to be determined to be illegally sharing Copyrighted Material, your computer may be uploading Copyrighted Material to others without your knowledge.
• To secure your IP connection, check your router, particularly if it is a wireless router, to insure that connection to it is encrypted, password protected, or limited to use by computers with MAC addresses that you know and have authorized. For best results, consult the documentation that came with your network adapter. Additionally, wireless routers typically come with standard usernames and passwords (like "admin" and "password"); you should make sure that you change these from the default.
• Next, you should check computers and other devices in your household for the Copyrighted Material listed in the letter you received and, if it is resident on a computer, delete it, determine how it got there, and take action to stop future transfers.
• Many file sharing software packages are configured so that any files in your "shared folder," are automatically uploaded and provided to anyone who requests them. In the event your computer has Copyrighted Material in an accessible folder, your computer may be illegally allowing others to upload Copyrighted Material from your computer.



3. Why did I receive the notice if my current IP address does not match the one listed on the notice?
   IP addresses are not static in nature; that is to say, the IP address associated with your account changes from time to time. On the date and time the Copyrighted Material in question was being transferred, Suddenlink identified your modem as the then-current user of the specific IP address alleged to be transferring that Copyrighted Material.



4. What do I do now/How do I resolve this matter?
   In order to avoid another notice in the future you can take steps to ensure that your computer is no longer used to illegally transfer Copyrighted Material, first by deleting any files that you or someone using your Internet connection have illegally downloaded.
   
   If you continue to transfer Copyrighted Material illegally, you are violating Suddenlink's policies and Suddenlink may take further action, including limiting your Internet download capacity, suspending or terminating your account, or a range of other measures.



5. The notice attached to Suddenlink's letter proposes that I pay a settlement to the agent in order to avoid further legal action. Should I pay them?
   Copyright owners may pursue their own legal action, separate and apart from anything that Suddenlink may elect to do. A decision whether to settle a copyright infringement allegation is a legal matter between the copyright holder and you, and Suddenlink cannot advise you on such a matter. You may choose to discuss the option of settlement with the attorney of your choice. Suddenlink does not, however, inform the copyright owner which of its subscribers was associated with the IP address at the time and date in question without the copyright holder first obtaining a court order or its equivalent. Copyright owners have filed actions and received such court orders in the past requiring those ISPs to identify those subscribers whom the owners have identified as possible copyright infringers.



6. Am I in trouble? What is going to happen to me?
   It appears that your account has been used to obtain copyrighted material without the owner's permission, which violates federal law. If you ensure this does not happen again, unless the letter you received indicates otherwise, Suddenlink will take no further action. If, however, your IP address continues to transfer Copyrighted Material illegally, Suddenlink may take further action which may include limiting your Internet download capacity, suspending or terminating your account or a range of other measures. Any action taken by Suddenlink relates solely to a breach of your agreements with Suddenlink; the copyright owner may still pursue its own legal action at any time.



7. How did you determine that my computer has been transferring Copyrighted Material?
   The Internet is a highly transparent medium and standard technology can access information that is voluntarily placed in the public domain when individuals transfer files. Suddenlink does not monitor or track where you go or what you do on the Internet, however, the owners of copyrighted material notified Suddenlink that a particular IP address has been associated with the illegal transfer of Copyrighted Material. Suddenlink is then able to identify which of its customers used the IP addresses on the dates and times identified by the owners of the Copyrighted Material.



8. Does this mean that I can't download music or movie files?
   No, there are many Web sites available where a variety of music and movie files can be downloaded legally. These sites have the legal authorization of the artist or company that owns the copyrighted material to make their works available online. Many of these sites do charge to download Copyrighted Material.



9. You say I must delete the copies of the unauthorized Copyrighted Material. How do I do this?
   Most computer systems have a "search" function you can use that allows you to search your files by name. If you do not know how to use this feature, you should check your user manual for instructions. If, on your first search, you do not find the Copyrighted Material you are looking for try searching for one particular word in the title of the work.



10. What can I do to dispute the alleged infringement?
    
    • If Suddenlink has forwarded a letter alleging illegal file-sharing - If you receive a notification of alleged infringement, as described above, and you believe in good faith that the allegedly infringing Copyrighted Material was not shared from your IP address, then you may want to contact the owner directly at the address provided in the notification that you received, and tell us.
    
    
    
    • For Suddenlink-Hosted Materials (this is less common than illegal file-sharing) - If you have stored material on Suddenlink's servers that has been removed or blocked by Suddenlink and you believe in good faith that the allegedly infringing Copyrighted Material has been removed or blocked by mistake or misidentification, then you may send a counter-notification to Suddenlink's designated agent using Suddenlink's counter-notification form.
      
      Upon Suddenlink's receipt of a counter-notification that satisfies the requirements of the DMCA, Suddenlink will provide a copy of the counter-notification to the copyright owner that sent the original notification of claimed infringement. In all events, you expressly agree that Suddenlink will not be a party to any disputes or lawsuits regarding alleged copyright infringement.
      
11. My question isn't answered here. Where can I get more information?
    Here are some sites that provide additional information on file sharing and copyright infringement:
    

    MusicUnited.org
    Recording Industry Association of America
    Respe©t Copyrights
    Motion Picture Association of America
    Business Software Alliance
    Entertainment Software Alliance
    

    
    If you have any further questions, you can call Suddenlink customer service at 877-386-6498 between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm Central Time.

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