Can someone explain to what this DMCA thing is all about? I received an email earlier today saying I infringed on someone's copyright. The post identified is no longer available and honestly, I don't even know what was on there.
UPDATE: The post was about sticking it to the man and had a G.Love and Special Sauce song attached.
The email I received is as follows:
Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog infringes upon the copyrights of others. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message.
The notice that we received, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects at http://www.chillingeffects.org. We do this in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Please note that it may take Chilling Effects up to several weeks to post the notice online at the link provided.
The DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. We are in the process of removing from our servers the links that allegedly infringe upon the copyrights of others. If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. See http://www.educause.edu/Browse/645?PARENT_ID=254 for more information about the DMCA, and see http://www.google.com/dmca.html for the process that Blogger requires in order to make a DMCA complaint.
Blogger can reinstate these posts upon receipt of a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and 3) of the DMCA. For more information about the requirements of a counter notification and a link to a sample counter notification, see http://www.google.com/dmca.html#counter.
Please note that repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel. If you have any other questions about this notification, please let us know.
Sincerely,
The Blogger Team
So does this mean I should be scared of someone taking legal action against me? Has anyone experienced this before? I'm not looking to pass other people's stuff as my own. I'm just here to let people know about good music. Most of what I post has been approved by the band or a publicist.
For the record, if you believe I've infringed on your copyright or if you want your material taken down, EMAIL ME AND I WILL TAKE IT DOWN IMMEDIATELY. NO QUESTIONS ASKED.
tag to listen and right click the song title to save.
5 comments:
Bizarro. But I wouldn't worry about it. Obviously some miscommunication between band/PR/you. Regardless, it appears Blogger has taken it down, so you're in accordance.
I guess you have no idea what the content was, eh? I find it kind of funny, as it's probably someone who actually NEEDS some promo. Instead they bite the hands that feed them. I don't get it.
I don't know what's going on, but a lot of bloggers are getting hit with this. See Song By Toad for a good post. It's weird and vaguely Orwellian. Sounds like they deleted your post, though. Blogger are fascists.
Canuck, I more worried about what I allegedly did wrong and make sure not to do it again.
free man, I read the post over at Song by Toad. Still confused on what's going on. I'm fine with the fact that they deleted my posts. I just don't want to get into any legal trouble.
One of the suggestions that I heard was that google is just starting to cleanse any possible infringements - makes very little sense...but I'd say: it's time for Wordpress. Good luck CC!
The DMCA - the Digital Millenium Copyright Act - is, amongst other things, concerned with providing a route to immunity from liability for organisations like blogger that host material which they do not actually create. If you post copyright material, and the copyright holder complains to Blogger with the information set out in the DMCA, and blogger takes your post down, then Blogger is immune from legal action about the copyright breach. It's shoot first and ask questions afterwards - the act goes on to say that you can file a notice in response and if the copyright holder does not commence legal action within 14 days of your notice then blogger can put your post back up. Strictly speaking the act doesn't talk about blogger's posts, it just talks about links to copyright material, but under the Terms and Conditions we sign up to no doubt Blogger/Wordpress/Whoever are entitled to do what they want to our stuff. I've had two of these too so I went and did some reading! It's astonishingly unlikely that you'll be on the end of any further action about the breach alleged, but it does seem that copyright holders are on the warpath at the moment and you might get more notices about other posts.
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