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>And that idiot revenge campaign served him with over $7M in damages. Assuming he can't pay even a fraction of that amount, what is going to happen to this geni

>And that idiot revenge campaign served him with over $7M in damages. Assuming he can't pay even a fraction of that amount, what is going to happen to this genius? Will he land in jail for some time? Thankfully, we don't have explicit (although there's plenty of incarcerated folks who wouldn't spend a day in jail if they had enough money to fight whatever bullshit charges are brought against them) debtor's prisons, so probably not.

thfuran 4y ago
But isn't filing a false DMCA takedown in and of itself illegal, beyond any civil damages caused? Edit: Okay, the filing requires asserting "under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly in-fringed." But I'm not sure whether anyone has ever been prosecuted for perjury for something like this. It's seemingly generally resolved only by suing for damages.
- nobody9999 4y ago
  >But isn't filing a false DMCA takedown in and of itself illegal, beyond any civil damages caused? According to this site[0]: "...if someone files a fraudulent DMCA takedown notice, they can be sued for the damages caused, along with the costs and attorneys’ fees that were incurred in pursuing those damages. In many cases, the costs of attorneys’ fees can far outweigh the actual damages." Apparently, there is standing for civil action against someone filing a fake DMCA claim, but no criminal penalties. But YMMV. The above was just the first relevant link in a search for 'criminal fake dmca claims'. [0] http://smithlawtlh.com/false-fraudulent-bad-faith-dmca-take-claims/ http://smithlawtlh.com/false-fraudulent-bad-faith-dmca-take-...
  - thfuran 4y ago
    That article also mentions that (at least some aspect of) the filing is made under penalty of perjury. So, theoretically, there's potential for criminal charges for abuse of DMCA process. I think that just never gets prosecuted.
    - nobody9999 4y ago
      >That article also mentions that (at least some aspect of) the filing is made under penalty of perjury. So, theoretically, there's potential for criminal charges for abuse of DMCA process. I think that just never gets prosecuted. The relevant Federal laws[0] do appear to support your assertions. That said, it's apparently a bit more complicated to prosecute someone in the context of a false DMCA takedown requests. Even more, you can't put a corporate entity in jail (limited liability, the corporate veil, etc.), only people. As such, I imagine that unless there's something really egregious (and this situation might be an example of that -- ask a US Attorney -- I'm not one of those), I suppose Federal prosecutors could charge someone with perjury over such false claims. [0] https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual-1750-comparison-perjury-statutes-18-usc-1621-and-1623 https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual...

thfuran 4y ago

But isn't filing a false DMCA takedown in and of itself illegal, beyond any civil damages caused? Edit: Okay, the filing requires asserting "under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly in-fringed." But I'm not sure whether anyone has ever been prosecuted for perjury for something like this. It's seemingly generally resolved only by suing for damages.

nobody9999 4y ago
>But isn't filing a false DMCA takedown in and of itself illegal, beyond any civil damages caused? According to this site[0]: "...if someone files a fraudulent DMCA takedown notice, they can be sued for the damages caused, along with the costs and attorneys’ fees that were incurred in pursuing those damages. In many cases, the costs of attorneys’ fees can far outweigh the actual damages." Apparently, there is standing for civil action against someone filing a fake DMCA claim, but no criminal penalties. But YMMV. The above was just the first relevant link in a search for 'criminal fake dmca claims'. [0] http://smithlawtlh.com/false-fraudulent-bad-faith-dmca-take-claims/ http://smithlawtlh.com/false-fraudulent-bad-faith-dmca-take-...
- thfuran 4y ago
  That article also mentions that (at least some aspect of) the filing is made under penalty of perjury. So, theoretically, there's potential for criminal charges for abuse of DMCA process. I think that just never gets prosecuted.
  - nobody9999 4y ago
    >That article also mentions that (at least some aspect of) the filing is made under penalty of perjury. So, theoretically, there's potential for criminal charges for abuse of DMCA process. I think that just never gets prosecuted. The relevant Federal laws[0] do appear to support your assertions. That said, it's apparently a bit more complicated to prosecute someone in the context of a false DMCA takedown requests. Even more, you can't put a corporate entity in jail (limited liability, the corporate veil, etc.), only people. As such, I imagine that unless there's something really egregious (and this situation might be an example of that -- ask a US Attorney -- I'm not one of those), I suppose Federal prosecutors could charge someone with perjury over such false claims. [0] https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual-1750-comparison-perjury-statutes-18-usc-1621-and-1623 https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual...