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They were in the wrong, true, but a simple takedown request would have cleared that up if this was about copyright. The bone of contention is that this fellow h
by gamble 16y ago
They were in the wrong, true, but a simple takedown request would have cleared that up if this was about copyright. The bone of contention is that this fellow has set up a company designed to buy up rights and pounce on violations for profit, regardless of whether the infringement was malicious and without notifying his victims that they were in the wrong. Most of the people he sued appeared simply ignorant of the law.
While he may be operating within the law, a world where relatively small mistakes result in four-figure lawsuits without any opportunity for making amends isn't one most people would enjoy.
- mattmaroon 16y agoTakedown requests are for companies like YouTube where content is illegally uploaded by a user. In this instance, the site owners clearly stole the intellectual property themselves. This is plagiarism, plain and simple, and the DMCA does not (and should not) protect it. I may be biased because I'm a published author, but if it takes a guy like this to hammer plagiarists I'm all for it. If you want to use someone else's writing, ask them for their permission and get it in writing. That's been the law and custom since time immemorial.
- akgerber 16y agoThe article says many of the targets are discussion boards, probably where users posted the articles.