Copyright or copywrong


Takedown notices and free speech
Free speech and fair use are rapidly becoming major issues on the internet.

One case described involved a man who in 1997 launched a personal Web site at Tatooine.com, named for the fictional planet in the first "Star Wars" flick. Three years later, the site's owner received a cease-and-desist letter from LucasFilm, ordering him to hand over the site. He said he never posted any "Star Wars"-related content, but instead, such personal-site material as family photos, poetry and fiction.

Worried that he couldn't afford a legal fight, the site's owner ultimately reached a confidential agreement with the company, which now owns the URL and redirects it to the official "Star Wars" site. (Ironically, "Star Wars" creator George Lucas borrowed the name of Tatooine from a city in Tunisia called Tataouine, located near a desert where some scenes were filmed.)

A similar "chilling effect," the report said, is taking shape through so-called takedown notices, a tactic in which copyright and trademark owners send letters to Internet service providers pressuring them to remove sites the owners determined to be infringing.

Such notices are rooted in a provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 that frees ISPs and search engines from copyright infringement liability if they "expeditiously" take down anything a copyright owner claims to be in violation of the law. The entire process, from letter-sending to site takedown, can occur without any formal legal proceedings.

Victims of the takedown notices have recourse. They can contest the allegations with a counternotice, but the paperwork is often complicated, Heins said. The report recommended creating Web sites that clarify not only appropriate fair uses but offer sample retorts to questionable takedown notices.

I've been watching this one, and not just because I am a blogger. Some of my corporate contacts have told me that there is a push in some law firms to take proactive measures for their clients. Not only do they go after websites that could violate copyright laws, these law firms also go after sites that post criticisms of the client companies.

It is going to be a wild and wooly ride.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Tue - December 6, 2005 at 06:03 AM  Tag


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