DIGITAL PIRATING, Part 2 DMCA Takedown Notice Looks Like, Smells Like...

Have you ever heard of a takedown notice?

When my first book was pirated, other writers said get busy and send the site a takedown notice.

What did I know. I made up a letter and sent it to the sites. Of course, I also filed a complaint about copyright infringement (Online. Now I question if that was altogether correct), notified Google, and Facebook of the fact that these sites were pirates. Copied all my correspondence and included that in my so-called take-down notice.  Not really DMCA ready or right.

Yet, it worked with a few companies. Perhaps,  it was all the shouting and promise (aka threats), I’d continue to post, blog, and be a harbinger of bad news.

But it wasn’t until recently that I learned there’s a specific type of notice. This of course isn’t legal advice—cause you know I’m not an attorney. (My jerk disclaimer: For true legal advice consult a copyright attorney. Got it?)

 From what I learned or dabbled into, is the law or Title II of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This is part of the US Code or copyright (Section 512 of Title 17).  

There are distinguishing loop holes but we just can’t get into those enjoyed by some online service except for one which is why they (pirates) act expeditiously when given notice. And here it is: When given a proper notice of infringing material being posted on its network, the OSP “responds expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material that is claimed to be infringing.”

This is a huge reason to, at least attempt, the DMCA notice and to remind the “pirate” that if they don’t immediately remove your book (digital text), they are breaking the law. Additionally, they along with their customer(s) may also be liable. A powerful weapon to use for those (pirates) who are based in the U.S.

Another tasty morsel in delousing pirates is they must also remove the directories entry, indexes, anything that points to your work from their hand (or site). All of these comes from the law: 17 USC §512(d).

The bad news is many, many, many piracy sites are far outside the U.S. Those sites might ignore your attempts.

What is required in a takedown notice?

A DMCA takedown notice isn’t a treatise. However, the notice must contain some specific info. So, you’re going to write up a notice, or letter, asking the OSP (online service provider) to remove or block the pirated page(s), you should to stay within the DMCA requirements include the following pieces of information in the letter:

(1) You own the copyright or have the right to assert there is an act infringement of the copyright you license.

(2) There is no “fair use” or “free speech laws” in place.

(3) Your writing (text) is capable of being infringed online. Meaning that the form is appropriate to digital form. It can’t be a print book. That’s not part of this type of claim. Some text examples include TXT, RTF, DOC, DOCx, PDF, PPT, PAGES, MOBI, etc.)

Now if you’ve  check off 1, 2, and 3, above, you can proceed to the filing or sending of your notice. Now we need to make certain the notice contains some crucial elements as well.

  1. You’ll need to have your signature (since you’re the copyright holder or you’re authorized to act for the holder);
  2. Must identify exactly what has been infringed. Big ticket item, so you’ll need the titles of your work and URLs where they may be found;
  3. Where the heck did you find the pirated work. Identify the work (again) that is infringed and where the work can be found. This must be complete even though it sounds ridiculous. Provide the exact location of the infringed material, e.g., an URL to the website and specific page;
  4. You’ll need to have a way for the Online Service Provider (OSP) contact you. Remember they may want to send a written letter so you consider how to provide a physical address. I didn’t. I just provided an email address. I’m not that brave even though I know finding a person is only too easy.
  5. This one is a killer, but it’s part of the deal. Prepare a statement that you have a “a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law”; and
  6. A statement that “the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”17 USC §512(c)(3).

Next section in Part 3, we’ll address where to send the notice. There are a couple of places to look. This is the reason I not only sent the DMCA notice to the “pirate” site but also to other places acting as a host to the vermin.

Thank you for hanging out with me during this series. Again, anything anyone would like to add, correct, or supplement would be of high interest on this absolutely abysmal subject. Thank  you!

INDIE AUTHORS ROCK AND ARE A FORCE, especially when they stick together.

For a specific template, and I do a very specific template, go to Saving For Someday .
Saving For Someday is an excellent reference.
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