Does downloading a short segment of a VOD violate DMCA?

API
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According to the DMCA:

In the file-sharing context, downloading or uploading substantial parts of a copyrighted work without authority constitutes an infringement.

  1. What counts as “substantial”?
  2. Does that mean if I have an app that supplies 10 second segments of a VOD I am not violating DMCA guidelines?
  3. Furthermore, my app would just be providing users a very small segment of a VOD and it would be up to each user what they do with it.
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You’d have to contact a lawyer for actual legal advice. That being said, service providers and content creators are also treated differently in the DMCA. If you are curating the content you are the content creator. If creators are uploading the vods themselves, then you are the service provider for an end user. That makes a huge difference in the law.

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