

Automattic sues, strikes back at fraudulent DMCA takedown notices - cfinke
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/11/21/automattic-files-two-lawsuits-strikes-back-censorship-fraudulent-dmca-takedown-notices/?fromcat=all

======
DanBC
The Next Web article doesn't add anything over the actual notice, which they
link to.

[http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/striking-back-
agains...](http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/striking-back-against-
censorship/)

EDIT: But it's great that Automattic are fighting this, and I wish them best
luck.

~~~
cfinke
I submitted this link due to HN's proclivity for requiring the submission
title to match the linked page's title, and this title was more self-
explanatory than "Striking back against censorship."

Disclaimer (?): I'm an Automattic employee.

~~~
zem
that actually suggests an interesting way to get a proper title onto hn - put
up a thin-wrapper blogpost and submit that. wonder how well it'd work.

~~~
bigiain
That's specifically suggested in the guidelines: "If you want to add initial
commentary on the link, write a blog post about it and submit that instead."

([http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)
\- linked at the footer of every page)

~~~
zem
i'm not talking about commentary, but specifically about "this article's title
sucks, but if i try to fix it in the submission it'll get reverted"

------
paulgb
An unfortunate double-standard of the DMCA is that only damages are
recoverable in the event of a false takedown.

There's an ongoing case right now that would test whether "loss of free
speech" is a recoverable damage.

Best of luck to Automattic, it's nice to see someone taking action.

~~~
rlpb
Isn't some sort of criminal sanction for "perjury" an additional consequence?
Or is that entirely toothless?

~~~
paulgb
IANAL but I've been censored by the DMCA before and fought it. My
understanding is that perjury is a crime against the court/government, so
you'd have to convince a district attorney to pursue it which is rarely done.

Also, the takedown requires a much weaker statement under perjury than the
counter-takedown. "the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the
owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed". There's (bizarrely)
no need to claim good faith.

Edit: here's my story: [https://medium.com/this-happened-to-
me/9ccd3a157914](https://medium.com/this-happened-to-me/9ccd3a157914)

------
russellsprouts
I read the documents. The one about NewsBuletin seems like it should be a no-
brainer. Someone copied the blog posts, posted them on a fake domain, made to
look like NewsBulletin, then issued take-down notices as if he owned them, and
they were from the real site.

------
interurban
These cases look fairly cut-and-dried. The one thing that makes me wonder is
the international angle, neither defendant is located in the US.

Seems like the real prize is setting a precedent to be used in other cases. It
would seem recovering monetary awards from international parties may be quite
difficult or impossible.

~~~
jmadsen
"Seems like the real prize is setting a precedent to be used in other cases"

That was my initial thought, especially from the point of view of comments
above about it being difficult for small companies to afford a suit.

Not a lawyer, but it must be faster/cheaper/easier to sue after a precedent
has been made that can be referred to

------
nwenzel
Bringing some needed balance to the situation (from the original post by Paul
Sieminski [http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/striking-back-
agains...](http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/striking-back-against-
censorship/)) is a good way to put it.

------
Pitarou
Why hasn't this happened already?

This kind of abuse is often a tool used by scoundrels in acrimonious disputes.
Surely, people have wanted to sue in the past. What's been stopping people up
until now?

~~~
dangrossman
Most people have negative net worth, not hundreds of thousands of dollars
sitting in a bank waiting to be used to carry out a federal lawsuit.

------
CHsurfer
Can I donate to support the case?

~~~
ggchappell
> Can I donate to support the case?

That's a nice thought. But I think it might be better to save your money for
someone who needs it. This lawsuit is not being brought by a couple of guys
working out of someone's basement, but by a successful company with hundreds
of employees. I imagine they can afford it.

------
chilldream
Some added commentary from a lawyer:

[http://www.popehat.com/2013/11/21/wordpress-goes-on-the-
offe...](http://www.popehat.com/2013/11/21/wordpress-goes-on-the-offensive-
against-dmca-abusers/)

------
power2u
A very good initiative by Wordpress to deter people from doing this in the
future.

Any information who made these false claims?

------
rrpadhy
DMCA has often been used to suppress free-speech. It is high time, this rule
is re-visited and some of the context is set right.

------
cft
One defendant is in India, second is in the UK. How does this work- if they
win, how will they collect from India?

------
zipfle
dear lawyers,

Isn't there a thing called 'slander of title?'

Would that thing apply in the case of representing someone else's work as your
own for the purpose of issuing a DMCA?

------
softworks
Big up to Automaticc for doing this. Right On!

