4 ms·
Can she not use the DMCA to request that any offending online copies be removed and then sue in small claims court? I'm always amazed at how any copyright law
by duke_sam 16y ago
Can she not use the DMCA to request that any offending online copies be removed and then sue in small claims court?
I'm always amazed at how any copyright law doesn't make it any easier to seek compensation if you are an individual. To the point where copyright only seems to have meaning if you have a team of lawyers on staff.
- dustingetz 16y agothe sponsors of these laws were businesses, so it makes sense and isn't necessarily even bad for the law to be written for the common cases.
- patio11 16y agoDMCA is really, really easy to do. If you can read and follow directions, you can DMCA someone's hosting provider for less than $6 and ten minutes of work or less. (I prefer doing it by certified mail, return receipt requested, which is the polite businessman's way to say This Is About To Become Serious Business For Your Attorney If You Don't Give Me What I Want.)
- shiftpgdn 16y agoSave yourself $6 and do it by e-mail. Just find the abuse e-mail listed for the IP/Host and 99.9% of the time they'll take care of it in 24 hours or less.
- rmc 16y agoRegistered post is much muc less ignorable than email. "I didn't get that email" is an excuse they might give, but you can't say that with registered post. For the sake of $6 it's worth it.
- Dylanlacey 16y agoI've had someone try (For a $1000 insurance claim against their business). I didn't mention it was registered post until they claimed they didn't get it. "Oh, really? Well the registered post office said that there's a signature on this from you, and it was definately hand delivered."
- rmc 16y agoExactly my point. If you had sent them an email, then they could keep claiming they never got it. Registered post is an ace up your sleeve that you can pull out when you want to catch them with their pants down. You now have record of them misleading you. If this goes before a judge, that counts against them, since they are playing dirty. Registered Post saved the day, all for $6.
- steveklabnik 16y ago> you can DMCA someone's hosting provider for less than $6 and ten minutes of work or less. Please, nobody tell /b/...
- wnoise 16y agoWhy not? There are hefty penalties for abuse of process. If the copyrights of a /b/ denizen are indeed being infringed, then they should have just as much recourse to defend them.
- steveklabnik 16y agoNo, I mean like "Instead of pizzas, let's send this guy over 9000 DMCA takedown requests."
- RickHull 16y agoHence the aforementioned hefty penalties for abuse of process.
- steveklabnik 16y agoThere are also penalties for most other things /b/ does, but that doesn't stop them... they _are_ DDOS-ing a government office right now, after all.
- RickHull 16y agoMy guess is, they will verify the identification information on the application before sending a volley of requests at a single target.
- cperciva 16y agoHence the comment about penalties for abuse of process. You can't send a DMCA takedown notice anonymously, and I suspect most people on /b/ won't want to sign their name to something which could land them in court.
- tzs 16y agoIf you want to sue over an alleged copyright infringement, you have to use Federal court.
- A1kmm 16y ago"and then sue in small claims court" AFAIK there are no federal small claims courts in the United States, only state ones. The DMCA is federal legislation, and from 28USC85§1338, "(a) The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action arising under any Act of Congress relating to patents, plant variety protection, copyrights and trademarks. Such jurisdiction shall be exclusive of the courts of the states in patent, plant variety protection and copyright cases." As I understand US law (IANAL), it costs $350 to file a case in the federal District Court, but the statutory damages you will be awarded if you win range from $750-$30,000 (depending on what the court).