Comments on: Major studios send legal threats to Google demanding removal of links to their own Facebook pages and more

By: Damien Guard

Damien Guard — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:58:00 +0000

You’re assuming that removal of non-infringing links was a mistake and not an attempt to manipulate search rankings…

By: Andrew Singleton

Andrew Singleton — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:29:00 +0000

Seems fair.

By: Andrew Singleton

Andrew Singleton — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:39:00 +0000

Could. Then again if that were the case wouldn’t ‘Song of the South’ be Pub Domain rather than Disney owned? I mean they’ve been denying they had anything to do with it for how long now?

By: jbond

jbond — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:28:00 +0000

For symmetry, I suggest a 3 strikes DMCA approach. Make 3 incorrect DMCA takedown notices and the source is blacklisted so that all future DMCA takedowns from them are automatically discarded.

By: Florian Bösch

Florian Bösch — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:06:00 +0000

Yes, I agree, the internet would be far better of if we completely erased the existence of those MAFIAA affiliates from the internet. It will be like they never existed.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 10:29:00 +0000

Why you gotta step on my dreams, man?

(Although I think there might be a difference between an orphaned work, where the copyright holder can’t be located, and one where the actual owner has abandoned all claim to it, the latter could be argued to be deliberately placed into the public domain which means anybody can use it… assuming that’s possible in the country in question, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not the case in the US)

By: SmokingHeartDesigns

SmokingHeartDesigns — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 09:40:00 +0000

I tell people “don’t quote me” all the time. That’s self referential.

By: Øyvind

Øyvind — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 08:49:00 +0000

I hope they diligently remove all the offensive links, legit or no. That way, hopefully, someone, somewhere might learn something.

By: Jack N Fran Farrell

Jack N Fran Farrell — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 05:53:00 +0000

Fire your sister in laws idiot son

By: TooGoodToCheck

TooGoodToCheck — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 04:26:00 +0000

If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Apparently the flip side is that if it was a stupid idea to start, you might as well do the most inept, shitty job of which you are capable.

By: webstu

webstu — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 03:05:00 +0000

Hey, it’s totally valid! The lawyer’s teenage secretary ran the software and that link came up! Computers don’t make mistakes!

By: That_Anonymous_Coward

That_Anonymous_Coward — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:52:00 +0000

And yet this same kind of crack research is being used to push 6 strikes into the US.
No wonder they don’t dare do with with laws, people would expect there to be real proof.

By: Andrew Singleton

Andrew Singleton — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:33:00 +0000

Unfortunately even orphaned/abandoned works cannot be claimed by other parties.

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 01:13:00 +0000

Google could remove all links to anything advertising the products in question, especially links to places that would make money for the studios. Reason? They’re scared of infringement.

By: yeahyeahwhtever

yeahyeahwhtever — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:57:00 +0000

All good examples to someday be used before a judge to illustrate how careless the major studios are when they send DMCA notices.

By: Doran

Doran — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:36:00 +0000

Until there is punishment for sending bad take-down notices, this will continue forever.

By: EH

EH — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:12:00 +0000

Yes, evidence suggests this whole story was a hoax.

By: xzzy

xzzy — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:07:00 +0000

Torrentfreak site has updated stating that the source of the takedown notices was probably not authorized to issue those notices, as their homepage has been taken down.

So it’s starting to appear this is less about content owners being idiots and more of a “point and laugh at how easy it is to exploit the DMCA.”

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:01:00 +0000

Don’t worry, I have a perfect out. If the show starts getting stale, I’ll have a zombie apocalypse happen, and turn the show into that. I’ll probably do the same for HIMYM…
turns out, he met her fighting off zombies!

(And continuity to the following will be explained as him being an unreliable narrator, wanting to spare his kids the horror of the two years of zombie apocalypse that the world has tried to forget)

By: Boundegar

Boundegar — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:01:00 +0000

This is starting to remind me of the War on Drugs. They don’t seem to care how badly they hurt people – and hurt themselves – because the only alternative is to appear “soft.” Unfortunately, I’ve never heard of an effective strategy to allow people like this to deescalate. They’re like adrenalin junkies, except with hundreds of lawyers.

By: Mace Moneta

Mace Moneta — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:48:00 +0000

I agree, and PS, takedowns are immediate, but it can take 7-10 days for restoration.

By: Mordicai

Mordicai — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:47:00 +0000

Just don’t let it go on four or five seasons too long.

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:43:00 +0000

Woohoo! Now I can produce a spinoff featuring Ranjit the limo driver!

By: angusm

angusm — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:43:00 +0000

I think Google should give them what they ask for.

By: Mordicai

Mordicai — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:40:00 +0000

I think, under nautical law, you are now the owner of How I Met Your Mother.

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:31:00 +0000

If you declare yourself to be infringing copyright, you are, by definition, declaring that you do not own the copyright.

And if they don’t own it, who does?

I move that this intellectual property be ruled to be abandoned.