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Official DMCA Copyright Infringement Removal Request
Tech Tips by Donald Burleson |
It's very easy to
steal content on the web, and the theft of copyrighted property
has become epidemic, with entire web sites being stolen and
re-published. In this case, respected author, Dr. Timothy
Hall had his entire domain taken and re-published under another
person's name.
This case is
especially onerous because the criminal
took Dr. Hall's resume as his own, removing Dr. Hall's name
and replacing it with their name. Even identity theft can
be very difficult to enforce with an overseas web site, and the
bad guys know this.
Here are my notes on
enforcing your copyrights on the web.
Locating copyright
violations on the Internet
Detection services
such as www.turnitin.com
and www.copyscape.com are
a great way to find stolen copyrighted property, as are random
Google searches.
Reporting a DMCA copyright
infringement
If the web host is
located in the USA then the hosting company is bound by the
Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. ?? 512, 1201-1205,
1301-1332; 28 U.S.C. - 4001) and all United States web service
providers are required not to facilitate in the publication of
infringing material.
If the infringing content is hosted
overseas you cannot use a DMCA removal request, but you can
report the infringing page with the Google report a spam result
web form. You may not be able to have the infringing
content removed, but you may be able to have the pages removed
from the Google web index.
Most web hosting companies want an
"official" notice that they are hosting infringing content.
I'm not a lawyer, but I've had success with a notice like the
DMCA copyright infringement demand letter below.
Sample DMCA official copyright infringement demand letter
Official Digital
Millennium Copyright Act Infringement Demand
Dear Sir or Madam:
I hereby swear under
penalty of perjury that the information provided herein is
accurate to the best of my knowledge. This letter is an
official notification under provisions of section 512(c) of
the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act to effect removal
of the detected infringement listed in this location
www.infringing_url.com
which infringes
on copyrighted content from
www.legit_copyright_web_page.htm, wholly
copyrighted by my_company, without knowledge or
consent.
We hereby request that
you immediately remove or block access to the infringing
material, as specified in the DMCA, and insure the user
refrains from using or sharing with others my_company materials
in the future.
Please send us a
prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to
resolve this matter. This link verifies that the infringing
content was detected by the Copyscape software:
http://copyscape.com/link_to_verify infringement
Nothing in this letter
shall serve as a waiver of any rights or remedies of
Burleson Enterprises Inc. with respect to the infringement,
all of which are expressly reserved. Should you need to
contact me, I may be reached at the following address:
Mr. John Doe
1301 Copyright Ave
Dmca, NY, 12345
and include the URL for the page.
