DMCA issues

SenseiSteve

HD Moderator
Staff member
It seems how providers handle DMCA complaints is somewhat disparaged. If you suspect that your site will attract DMCA complaints, do you know how your provider will respond?

Have you read their Terms of Service? These vary from provider to provider, and some contain language that you ought not glaze over. Pay close attention to what they allow on their servers and how they’ll react to possible DMCA notices. We’ve seen this numerous times on web hosting forums where a member receives notice that their services have been terminated without recourse due to a DMCA notice, valid or not.

What are your thoughts on how DMCA complaints should be handled and why?
 
It seems how providers handle DMCA complaints is somewhat disparaged. If you suspect that your site will attract DMCA complaints, do you know how your provider will respond?

Have you read their Terms of Service? These vary from provider to provider, and some contain language that you ought not glaze over. Pay close attention to what they allow on their servers and how they’ll react to possible DMCA notices. We’ve seen this numerous times on web hosting forums where a member receives notice that their services have been terminated without recourse due to a DMCA notice, valid or not.

What are your thoughts on how DMCA complaints should be handled and why?
You have to remember that DMCA is only legally valid in the USA, so any other country could just ignore DMCA complaints or notices.
Although i am in the UK, if i got a DMCA notice then i would act on it. I only ever had 1 in my 18 years as a host.

1) I would inform the actual client of the involved site giving them 24 hrs to contact me and 48 hrs to correct the issue.
2) If they don't contact me within the 24 hrs then i suspend their sites (all their sites on my servers). This would normally get their attention quickly.
3) If 48 hrs has passed and still no contact then their sites are removed from the server.
 
DMCA should be handled through proper verification, nothing more.

Hosting providers have become way too 'suspend' heavy when it comes to DMCA

IF the person has verified that they are an authorized agent (lawyer) of the person filing the claim, then the claim should be looked at.

IF there is copyright filed, then the claim should be addressed. If not, then no such luck. Sorry about your luck, but you put it out there, without copyrighting it, or somehow laying your claim to it.

Otherwise? Nope, none, nada, zip... sorry
 
Over the years we handled dozens of DMCA complaints. Usually, it was because an eCommerce store used images that were property of the manufacturer and they were not authorized to use them. We've received complaints from Nike and Adidas, along with photographers etc too.

DMCA is the US Law, however, copyright is copyright. We lump DMCA and WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) complaints into the same bundle.

If the claimant sent the relevant information such as a link to the original piece and the link to the client's version, then this helped speed up the process on our end. In those cases;
  • Users were given 24 hours to contact us and verify that they have removed the offending material
  • If we did not receive contact, we placed a 302 redirect on the offending link to "temporarily unavailable"
  • If the abuse was excessive, the account was suspended
  • Termination only happened on non-payment
Our upstream provider (DataCenter) held most of the cards on what we could do. Their TOS stated that once a DMCA had been filed, we had 48 hours to block access to the offending material.

A DMCA does not require a lawyer, however it can carry more weight if you plan to sue for damages.

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When we file a DMCA, and we've done a few, we file it with the hosting company, their upstream provider (DataCenter), Domain Registrar, Google, Bing and Yahoo.

If it was something on Amazon, they're always quick to react and remove the material (or suspend the store).
If it was via YouTube or Vimmeo, they too are quick to react - often within an hour.
 
Over the years we handled dozens of DMCA complaints. Usually, it was because an eCommerce store used images that were property of the manufacturer and they were not authorized to use them. We've received complaints from Nike and Adidas, along with photographers etc too.

DMCA is the US Law, however, copyright is copyright. We lump DMCA and WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) complaints into the same bundle.

If the claimant sent the relevant information such as a link to the original piece and the link to the client's version, then this helped speed up the process on our end. In those cases;
  • Users were given 24 hours to contact us and verify that they have removed the offending material
  • If we did not receive contact, we placed a 302 redirect on the offending link to "temporarily unavailable"
  • If the abuse was excessive, the account was suspended
  • Termination only happened on non-payment
Our upstream provider (DataCenter) held most of the cards on what we could do. Their TOS stated that once a DMCA had been filed, we had 48 hours to block access to the offending material.

A DMCA does not require a lawyer, however it can carry more weight if you plan to sue for damages.

------------------
When we file a DMCA, and we've done a few, we file it with the hosting company, their upstream provider (DataCenter), Domain Registrar, Google, Bing and Yahoo.

If it was something on Amazon, they're always quick to react and remove the material (or suspend the store).
If it was via YouTube or Vimmeo, they too are quick to react - often within an hour.
I think a lot of issues around DMCA and WIPO these days is a lot of images are now available online via google images/fb etc. so companies use them freely without thinking.

I think if you place a thing in your TOS regarding suspension/termination regarding DMCS etc. they i makes your clients think if they value their website.

In my 18 years as a host i only had 1 DMCS notice and they client reacted within hours of being informed.
 
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