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48 votes
Accepted

Do we have to take down the material for 14 days even if the DMCA notice is erroneous?

There is a slight confusion here: The large company sent the DMCA notice to your host, not to you. You are not taking down anything. The host does that. If the DMCA takedown notice is following all ...
gnasher729's user avatar
  • 32.9k
37 votes
Accepted

Can I host copyrighted content until I get a DMCA notice?

You may at your peril. The safe harbor provision in 17 USC 512 does not provide absolute immunity to service providers, that immunity is only available (c)(1) if the service provider—(A)...(ii) in ...
user6726's user avatar
  • 210k
32 votes

Can I host copyrighted content until I get a DMCA notice?

No. That only works if you host other users' content... ... and on a large enough scale that you can believably say you had no idea that content was on your site. It does not help you if you were the ...
Harper - Reinstate Monica's user avatar
30 votes
Accepted

Are there consequences for not filing a DMCA (any country)

If I understand correctly, you are asking whether a copyright holder's failure to submit a DMCA "takedown" notice in accordance with 17 U.S.C. § 512 prevents that copyright holder from enforcing their ...
Kevin Li's user avatar
  • 2,270
29 votes
Accepted

Is youtube-dl takedown due to their tests which use copyrighted content?

The takedown action is a little sketchy. The law regarding takedown notices and host liability is here. The notice includes "Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed&...
user6726's user avatar
  • 210k
26 votes

Do we have to take down the material for 14 days even if the DMCA notice is erroneous?

The most important fact to remember is that under DMCA safe harbor rules, you do not make a judgment of the merits of the allegation, you simply follow the rules. The second most important fact to ...
user6726's user avatar
  • 210k
21 votes

Fair Use and DMCA

Twitter don’t have to host your account UMG’s and Sony’s business is probably more important to Twitter than yours is. It seems Twitter have made a commercial decision to close your account down. They ...
Dale M's user avatar
  • 198k
20 votes

Can I request my comment be deleted from a forum if I made that post when I was 12?

Various Privacy Laws may Apply If you live in the EU, the site may be required to delete this information under the GDPR. If you live in the UK, you may have the right to deletion under the UK-GDPR. ...
David Siegel's user avatar
20 votes

Who gets in trouble if a user uploads pirated content on an open platform?

The platform will get in trouble for copyright infringement. The disclaimer that you are not liable does not work, legally, since the person suing you hasn't agreed to the TOS on your webpage. You can ...
user6726's user avatar
  • 210k
16 votes
Accepted

How can I legally protect my website from users who upload copyrighted material?

A simple EULA does not absolve you from legal responsibility. The law that you need to be acquainted with, if you are dealing with the US (i.e. might be sued in the US), is the Digital Millennium ...
user6726's user avatar
  • 210k
11 votes

Can I host copyrighted content until I get a DMCA notice?

ONLY if you are the host As long as you are just the host, you can use the DMCA as your defense - if you follow all rules under the DMCA. Then you technically don't have to know what your users do, ...
Trish's user avatar
  • 33.8k
10 votes

Is youtube-dl takedown due to their tests which use copyrighted content?

The takedown request states: A list of youtube-dl forks to take down (uninteresting) The clear purpose of this source code is to (i) circumvent the technological protection measures used by ...
Ángel's user avatar
  • 786
9 votes
Accepted

Is creating and selling "cheats" or "hacks" for games illegal?

Yes The relevant legal concepts are copyright, contract law and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. You are liable to be sued by the people affected for damages and/or be prosecuted by the government ...
Dale M's user avatar
  • 198k
8 votes
Accepted

Does YouTube legally need proactive takedown?

Under the DMCA(United States Federal Law: Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and its Safe Harbor provisions, yes, Youtube is protected from copyright claims, provided they comply when they receive a ...
sharur's user avatar
  • 8,737
6 votes

Would a website that catalogs every possible sequence of letters violate copyright?

It's not clear to me that your website is, per se, illegal. (Though good luck finding a webhost with a hard drive large enough to store it. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is roughly 38,000 ...
Michael Seifert's user avatar
6 votes

Is youtube-dl takedown due to their tests which use copyrighted content?

November 16 2020 - GitHub today reinstated the youtube-dl open-source project. Electronic Frontier Foundation lawyers explained in a letter that Google does not have any technical measures in place ...
Michael Harvey's user avatar
5 votes
Accepted

Will a copyright holder lose the right to enforce copyright if they're not enforcing it on some stuff, or even just have problems enforcing it?

No, this is not true. Copyright can be enforced selectively. You are confusing copyright with trademark. Company can lose its trademark if they aren't protecting it. All the meanwhile they can choose ...
Smart455's user avatar
  • 136
5 votes
Accepted

Has anyone been convicted of perjury for false DMCA takedown notices?

Short version: No, no one has even been prosecuted. Does the perjury clause apply to all the information in the notification, or only the statement that the complaining party is authorised to act etc....
Ryan M's user avatar
  • 10.2k
5 votes
Accepted

Web archives and sites with DMCA

Nothing in 17 USC 512, which includes the DMCA Safe Harbor and Takedown procedures requires an online service provider to notify others who may have made copies of content (including archive sites) ...
David Siegel's user avatar
5 votes

Fair Use and DMCA

EditVideoBot is an automated program that automatically edits videos based on commands provided by other Twitter users that mention the account - I am providing the service, other people operate and ...
Kevin's user avatar
  • 3,513
4 votes
Accepted

Can an ISP respond to a DMCA counter notice on behalf of a user?

Counter notices are described in 17 USC 512(g)(3). It starts with the requirement for "A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber" (and a statement under penalty of perjury...). Supposing ...
user6726's user avatar
  • 210k
4 votes
Accepted

Is it prohibited to accept DMCA takedown notices from non-authorized individuals?

There is no general prohibition against taking down material, even non-infringing material, which is posted by some person, but there is a risk to the service provider. Abstracting away from the ...
user6726's user avatar
  • 210k
4 votes

How can I legally protect my website from users who upload copyrighted material?

In addition to the things mentioned in the answer by user6726 (which is very good) you must have, and announce, a policy that users who repeatedly upload copyrighted content unlawfully will be blocked ...
David Siegel's user avatar
4 votes

Whistling copyrighted music on youtube

Yes it's illegal. Just like singing/whistling happy birthday in public (used to be) illegal. You could be sued for untold amount of damages that could ruin your life forever (in theory). If you ...
LateralTerminal's user avatar
4 votes

Would company A be legally liable if a hack is developed by a third party to run company B's software on A's hardware?

No Company A is liable for its own acts and omissions and no one else’s.
Dale M's user avatar
  • 198k
4 votes

Are my assumptions about clean-room reverse engineering and copyright of computer programs correct?

I think that both your examples would be considered, if not outright copies, then at the very least derivative works of the originals. Under US law, the copyright holder of a work has the exclusive ...
Nate Eldredge's user avatar
4 votes

How to take down the piracy website that does not respond to DMCAs

If a website takes down something that infringes on your copyright because of a DMCA request, the legal effect is that you can’t sue the website, only the person who put the content on the website. If ...
gnasher729's user avatar
  • 32.9k
4 votes

Counter DMCA Google play

Given that filing a DMCA counter notice is essentially an invitation to a lawsuit, consulting a licensed lawyer in your jurisdiction before filing a counter notice is highly recommended. To understand ...
sharur's user avatar
  • 8,737

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