Google Threatens Infringement VICTIMS

[glamourpics]

I am providing the following both as public information for people who would report infringement to Google, and as news regarding Google's activities.

Google hides its information on how to report copyright infringements. I couldn't find it on their website. Eventually wrote Google, and after a week, I received back the following. Note the two major threats, thinly-veiled in the first one, and open in the second.

1. Google threatens legitimate complainers with financial ruin. If a legitimate victim complains, and the infringer somehow escapes, e.g., under the "fair use" or other doctrine, Google threatens the victim with financial ruin.

2. Google not only threatens, but absolutely says it WILL, publish DMCA notices on a public website. A website whose name and purported intent, accuses the victim of helping create a "chilling effect." This both insults the victim, and violates the privacy of the infringement victim who is giving notice.

The discerning colleague will also note the outrageously burdensome demands of Google as to the notice itself. The actual DMCA does not go anywhere near that far. Google's obvious intent, both with the threats supra, and the DMCA notice "procedures," is to scare away complaining victims, and make it incredibly burdensome and costly even to send Google notice.

An interesting thought is what the legal situation would be if someone submitted DMCA notice(s) complete with a copyright notice, and an order to Google that it does not have any permission to allow republication of the DMCA notice. Now THAT might be a pretty good copyright case against Google, and maybe also a case for violation of privacy and a bunch of other stuff.

The following is from Google, without further comments, as guidance or threats to victims of Google.

For supporters of Google, please ponder whether learning this, and reading the words right out of Google's mouth, changes you high opinion of Google?

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Thank you for your note. Please be assured that it is Google's policy to
respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (the text of which can be found at the U.S.
Copyright Office website: http://www.copyright.gov/ ) and other applicable
intellectual property laws, which may include removing or disabling access
to material claimed to be the subject of infringing activity.

To file a notice of infringement with us, you must provide a written
communication (by fax or regular mail -- not by email, except by prior
agreement) that sets forth the items specified below. Please note that you
will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you
materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing your
copyrights. Indeed, in a recent case (please see
http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/l...opg_v_diebold/ for more
information), a company that sent an infringement notification seeking
removal of online materials that were protected by the fair use doctrine
was ordered to pay such costs and attorneys fees. The company agreed to
pay over $100,000. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material
available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first
contact an attorney.

To expedite our ability to process your request, please use the following
format (including section numbers):

1. Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has
been infringed upon. For example, "The copyrighted work at issue is the
text that appears on http://www.legal.com/legal_page.html."

2. Identify the material that you claim is infringing upon the copyrighted
work listed in item #1 above.

FOR WEB SEARCH, YOU MUST IDENTIFY EACH SEARCH RESULT THAT DIRECTLY LINKS
TO A WEBPAGE THAT ALLEGEDLY CONTAINS INFRINGING MATERIAL. This requires
you to provide (a) the search query that you used, and (b) the URL for
each allegedly infringing search result. Note that the URL for each search
result appears in green on the last line of the description for that
search result.

For example, suppose (hypothetically) that you conducted a search on
Google.com using the query [Google], and found that the third and fourth
results directly link to a webpage that you believe infringes upon the
copyrighted text that you identified in item #1 above. In this case, you
would provide the following information:

Search query: Google
Infringing webpages: http://directory.google.com/

3. Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Google to contact
you (email address is preferred).

4. Provide information, if possible, sufficient to permit Google to notify
the owner/administrator of the webpage that allegedly contains infringing
material (email address is preferred).

5. Include the following statement: "I have a good faith belief that use
of the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing
webpages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law."

6. Include the following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury
consistent with United States Code Title 17, Section 512, that the
information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright
owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right
that is allegedly infringed."

7. Sign the paper.

8. Send the written communication to the following address:

Google Inc.
Attn: Google Legal Support, DMCA Complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

OR Fax to:

(650) 963-3255, Attn: Google Legal Support, DMCA Complaints

Please note that a copy of each legal notice we receive is sent to a
third-party partner for publication and annotation. As such, your letter
will be forwarded to Chilling Effects (http://www.chillingeffects.org )
for publication. You can see an example of such a publication at
http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca5...i?NoticeID=861. A link to
your published letter will be displayed in Google's search results in
place of the removed content.

For more information, please see http://www.google.com/dmca.html

Regards,
The Google Team

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