Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with takedown

Legal status of Grateful Dead file hosting?

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 06:24:36 -0800

DMCA takedown for the Grateful Dead? I recently received a pseudo-DMCA notice about a website hosting exclusively Grateful Dead music. I have a few questions about how to proceed. I'll try to hit the main points here:

The site is on dreamhost, and hosted by a family member on one of the many domains that come with the plan. I have nothing to do with the day to day operation of the site, but I did register the domain a few years back.

The site hosts exclusively music of the Grateful Dead. I'm not a fan myself, but to my knowledge everything is free on the site and the site is very much a part of the traditional taping culture.

A day or so ago I received a form letter that appeared to be a DMCA takedown notice. The form letter reads in part "THIS SITE EXISTS ONLY TO ILLEGALLY POST BOOTLEG AND PIRATED MATERIAL IN CONNECTION WITH THE GRATEFUL DEAD AND HAS NOT BEEN AUTHORIZED BY RHINO ENTERTAINMENT, WARNER MUSIC GROUP OR GRATEFUL DEAD PRODUCTIONS TO POST SUCH MATERIAL" (shouting not mine)

On further read, the notice specifically says "Finally, notwithstanding our use of the required notice form, we believe that [domain's] activities and services fall outside the scope of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"). Our use of this form, as required by law, is meant to facilitate [domain's] removal of the infringing product listed above and is not meant to suggest or imply that [domain's] activities and services are within the scope of the DMCA."

I have a few specific questions, but I'm interested in any feedback you might have.

1) What is the current IP position of Rhino records on the Grateful Dead's collection? Does it vary based on the type and source of the material?

2) Is there any specific meaning to the form looking like a DMCA notice but specifically saying that there is NO violation of the DMCA?

3) What is my exposure here? I don't administer the site, monitor, or control content. I don't even have a log-in to the site proper. I bought the domain name and pay for the plan since it hosts my other sites.

4) Since I assume the answer to the above question is "lots of exposure" I am hoping to transfer full billing and ownership of the site to the actual owner. Other than that, what steps should I take?

Thanks in advance - I know very little about this and any clarity you can provide would be great. I know you may be a lawyer, but you are not my lawyer. Also I should probably contact a lawyer. But other than that...?

FOSS project website takedown over legal threat. What can be done?

_aa_ — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:24:05 -0800

Webhost takes down open source project website in response to legal threat from small company with similar name, similar product. What can be done? A friend of mine administers an open source project whose website was taken down by their webhost after the host received a threatening notice from a small company with a similar but not identical name and a similar but not identical product.

Let's, for example, say that the open source project's name is "Recipitome" and it's a software application that manages recipes. The small company's trademarked identity is "MegaRecipitome" and they make a hardware recipe manager. The company does preexist the open source project.

This strikes me as Coke being able to take down any domain containing the word "OK", but perhaps this is standard in trademark law.

Being a small open source project, obviously there is no money for legal representation.

Is anyone aware of or has anybody had a similar situation with a project or website? If so how was it resolved?

It's pretty crucial for this project to retain it's identity. Any strategies or suggestions for restoring and then protecting their website in the future?

Thank you in advance.

Q about DMCA takedown notice I received

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 06:41:16 -0800

Here is my dilemma. Last week I received a DMCA takedown notice from my ISP regarding a TV show that I torrented (is that a word yet?). Do I ignore the message, or give them the information? I know this was wrong, but my thinking was that this was a TV show, and not music, HBO, movies, etc. I guess I was seriously wrong. I deleted the file and uninstalled uTorrent. I guess uTorrent was also uploading, and herein lies the problem.

The note states that I need to send my ISP (quoted from email):
(a) a physical or electronic signature of the subscriber;

(b) 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 disabled;

(c) 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;

(d) the subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located.

[end quote]

My question is: what should I do? By filling out this information, aren't I admitting guilt? Wouldn't I be setting myself up to be included in a lawsuit in the future? I actually spoke with a lawyer who said just send them the information because there were no damages, but sending an email "under penalty of perjury" is kind of scary. Ignoring this might be a huge mistake too...

Help me take down a scam junk mailer

The Confessor — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 09:48:03 -0800

I just got a shady piece of 'scam' mail in my (snail) mailbox today. It came on an index card-sized piece of blue paper, and promised luxury vehicles, a cruise, and/or outrageous gobs of cash, among other things. I could simply throw the damn thing away, but I'd rather pull a P-p-powerbook, or find some other way to inconvenience the idiots behind this. Any ideas? Of course, there's much [BEGIN Contents of Card]

Return Address:

AWARDS VERIFICATION CENTER
2400 W. PIONEER PKWY, SUITE 210
ARLINGTON, TX 76013

Stamp Area:

PRESORTED
FIRST CLASS
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
PERMIT NO. 1520
ARLINGTON, TX

My Address Area:

ARL-TP3 137970979 - 0052
06272006
P1IGMA5H01
************AUTO** 3 - DIGIT 018

Nathiel Arnold [My name, misspelled]
[My actual address, redacted to protect my privacy]
[Bar Code]

The Other Side:

Dear Nathiel,

You are an official prizewinner in our NEW MERCEDES, BMW, PORSCHE, or $40,000 CASH promotion. We have been unable to contact you, therefore, in compliance with the program regulations, this notice is being forwarded to your attention.

We are holding your choice of a luxury 4-day Royal Caribbean Cruise for two with meals and entertainment included, value $1,398 or pre-paid round trip airfare and two nights accommodations for two to your choice of Las Vegas/Orlando, value $1,250, plus one of the four guaranteed prizes: a new MERCEDES BENZ M-Class, BMW X5, PORSCHE Cayenne or $40,000 CASH, a $1,500 Shopping Spree, Exotic Island Adventure, $806 value or $500 Cash. To avoid forfeiting your status as a recipient, please call toll free at 1-888-XXX-XXXX WITHIN 72 HOURS and arrange for a time for you and your spouse to visit and claim your prizes. There is no obligation to purchase anything. You are guaranteed to receive your prize and gift immediate, in accordance with the requirements of your claim confirmation letter.

Sincerely,
[Signed Name]
[Printed Name]
Awards Director

P.S. Please ask to speak to one of my assistants, Sandra or Kim. They are available M-F, 9:00am until 8:00pm and Sat. 9:00am until 6:00pm Central Time

[END Contents of Card]

My primary goal is to make the people behind this scam wish they had chosen a different line of work without resorting to harrassment or other illegal means.

I have an inordinate amount of spare time, strong writing skills, and a well-developed sense of vengeance to devote to this task... but very little accessible money, so siccing lawyers at 'em isn't a viable option.