Google and DMCA complaints

Am I being nuked by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?

[moftary]

When searching for my website for "mycompanyname" keyword, my website is on top. However I noted in the very bottom of search results this statement:

[q]In response to a complaint we received under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint for these removed results.[/q]

the "read The DMCA complaint" part is a link to an organization page saying "The notice you requested is not yet available"!

What worries me is that I received a few months ago a complaint from an attorney claiming that my website template is a copyrighted material and threatening to file a DMCA complaint.

Any thoughts?

[mrMister]

You'll have to wait until the DMCA report becomes available.

However, if you've ignored a DMCA complaint, it's highly likely that it has been issued.

[moftary]

Weird thing is that I contacted google about this and now I dont see the notice any more, though I havent got any responces from them.

[kire1971]

I recently filed a DMCA complaint against a site that was copying my entire site. Now, anytime any of their pages would have appeared in the results, the DMCA note is listed instead. None of their pages are in the search results anymore. The fact that your page is still in the search results means that particular page is not currently banned.

However, one of your other pages coming up for the same keywords may be banned or it may be another site entirely (coming up for the same keywords) that is the subject of the DMCA note. If that note is there, something has been removed.

Banned or not, IF you are illegally using content or design from another site... don't.

[jaffstar]

I filed a DMCA with Google, they removed the offending site. The offending site did remove all offending content after the complaint was issued, however, I then received this from Google.

We received the attached DMCA counter notification in response to the complaint you filed with us on 1/1/1 As described in 17 U.S.C. 512(g), by this email, we are providing you with the counter-notification and await your notice (in not more than 10 days) that you have filed an action seeking a court order to restrain the counter-notifier's allegedly infringing activity. If we do not receive such notice from you, we will reinstate the material in question back in the Google search results.

The bottom line, the complaint is good for a few months until the offending site files a counter notification, then its up to a court order.

IS it really worth getting a court order?

[moftary]

Hmm, an attorney and a court order in the US. As if the WWW is all about USA only. Anyway what bugs me the most is that the DCMA complain frequently appears in the bottom of the results (looks like DC are not syncronized), and once again when you click for more information it says "The notice you requested is not yet available".

[kire1971]

<quote>IS it really worth getting a court order?</quote>
If the offending site removed all of the infringing content then your goal was accomplished and no court order is necessary. If, on the other hand, the content remains and they are claiming it's not infringing or it's their own content, your remedy would be a court order.

[ownerrim]

I'm glad to hear that a dmca complaint can pay off. I've had to deal with content theft before on a small scale and even that was urksome beyond compare.

[BigDave]

Hmm, an attorney and a court order in the US. As if the WWW is all about USA only.

The web isn't only about the USA and our laws. On the other handGoogle is an American corporation, and therefore it is subject to our laws.

While there are lots of cases where you would be right in objecting to US-centric attitudes, this isn't one of those.

[Marshall Clark]

Yesterday I recieved an email response to the DMCA removal requests I submitted over a month ago. Pretty irritating though - instead of removing the sites I spent many hours documenting they sent me the following response:

<snip: Email from Google informing Marshall that a lot of the pages in question are not in Google any more.>

A quick search for my content showed that almost all of the originally documented infringers were still listed in the SERPS. I told Google that since all of the infringing sites were monitized exclusively via Adsense they better get on it and remove them quick if they want their Safe Harbor. ;)

[edited by: ciml at 8:35 am (utc) on May 9, 2005]
[edit reason] Sorry, no email quotes. [/edit]

[moftary]

While there are lots of cases where you would be right in objecting to US-centric attitudes, this isn't one of those.

I for one have my company website TOS to be subjected to the laws of Egypt so it's not the point.
I mean when someone file a DMCA complain against me, through a website submission, I should have the ability to counter strike via another website submission. Above of all of this, I beleive that internet disputes should be solved on the internet via certain organizations (squaretrade, for an instance) not in courts. Anyhow does anyone has an idea why the DMCA complain frequently appears? DCs syncronization issue?

[Marval]

moftary and BigDave - the DMCA is just US based - it does not apply to other countries - although some member nations have signed into the WIPO treaties that have similar wording - you just have to find the right governmental agency for a particular member country.

[BigDave]

Marval,

We are discussing a DMCA complaint sent to Google, a US corporation based in Mt. View, California, USA.

We are not discussing a DMCA complaint sent to ISPs located anywhere else in the world.

Google is required, by the laws of the country where they are based, to respond to a DMCA complaint about what is *on Google's servers*. (i.e. the cache the target page)

Theoretically, if they created different companies in each country and put in local datacenters, those local companies would not have to respond to the DMCA complaint. But that is not the way that Google is set up.

They have to follow the laws of any country where they have a presence in that country. For instance some of the requirements put on them by china, france an germany. But the requirements are much more strict about following the laws of the country where they are based.

It simply does not pay for them to protect the rest of the world from the DMCA.

[Marval]

BigDave - understood that - was mainly just replying to the comment above yours where there seemed to be a misunderstanding that (not yours) DMCA applied to the whole WWW wheras it really doesnt - just the US based part as you stated. I think the other thread has basically shown why the DMCA would not work in this case as well - as its not really a DMCA issue.

[Marval]

moftary - in answer to your original question - the first place I would look is the chilling effects website - that is where Google posts the DMCAs that they do agree with.
Secondly I would have to ask how you received the original complaint from the lawyer - if it was an email, that is a common practice as a scare tactic - and in most cases Ive seen (not a bunch but enough) that is usually enough to get the offender to take down the site or redesign it enough to be significantly different than the original design.
Last - it takes a long time from the time Google gets the complaint, until its posted as a valid DMCA at chilling effects (which is where Google would link that bottom of the page statement to)
Typically it can take two months for the process unless the filer of the complaint knows the ins and outs of Googles organization and hidden fax numbers

[ALbino]

Only slightly on topic, but mostly off:

Anybody know of a way to file a similar DMCA complaint with Yahoo?

AL.

[jaffstar]

Yes, I have done it with yahoo as well. They were not as good as Google.

[docs.yahoo.com...]

[moftary]

moftary - in answer to your original question - the first place I would look is the chilling effects website - that is where Google posts the DMCAs that they do agree with.

As I stated, when I click on the DMCA complain link, it leads me to a page saying that "the notice is not yet available". I contacted Google about that three days ago and havent yet received a reply.

[moftary]

To follow up with this issue, I have received an explaination from Google saying that the removed website was bluhbluh.com and has nothing to do with me. They sent me also the DMCA complain and it was ironically regarding some celebrities and adult sites! It has nothing to do with my business, shortly.

Anyhow I was going to reply google asking them to remove the DMCA complain note as long as it has nothing to do with my unique company name which is used as a keyword. Suddenly I thought of something. As the registrar of the .com and .net of my company name, does this give me legal rights to the company name as a trademark?

I could not frankly ask Google to kindly remove the complain as I am not sure.

Continue in [webmasterworld.com...]

Cheers,
mOftary

[whitehatwizard]

I issued a DMCA recently (From UK). Neither the infringed site nor offending site need to be in the US for Google to respond. Google is a US company and therefore responds to DMCA complaints.

The notice took about 4 weeks to turn from 'not available' to a copy of my letter (with personal details removed). Hope that helps someone