March 22 note added:
I’ve been in touch with the owner of Motiono.com and we’ve resolved our differences amicably. The DMCA takedown notice has been removed.
As I’ve been posting rather furiously about, I’ve received a bogus DMCA takedown notice today from MediaTemple, my hosting company, on behalf of Motiono.com, which feels that posts like this are infringing their copyright on their name (!!!) and the name of their founder/developer, Sumer Kolcak.
I find it a little interesting to see this image on MT’s contact page:
Umm … if they simply allow anyone who doesn’t like bad publicity to use a bogus DMCA notice to take down non-infringing posts … no, they’re not here when I need them.
Obviously, I need to find a Canadian hosting company … one that’s not under the jurisdiction of the DMCA.
[tags] mediatemple, dmca, takedown, john koetsier [/tags]
I have personally tried called you this evening regarding this matter. I keep getting rings and then voice mail. Scott DesMet, our Contention Resolution Administrator, has also made attempts. Maybe there is better way to reach you. I encourage you to contact me personally at the undersigned so I may help you further with this matter.
(mt) Media Temple hasn’t taken down any of your content down therefore I am rather confused by your post. Please understand that my company is simply following the protocol set forth and provided to us by congressional law which protects service providers against legal involvement in copyright disputes. If you consider the larger issue further, you can easily imagine the heavy burden placed on a company like ours which hosts over a 100,000 North American websites if we were try and play judge and jury every time we received a complaint. It is not practical, nor realistic, nor legally feasible for us to assume such a role in situations like this; which is why, thankfully, we have the DMCA for protection.
http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/faq.cgi#QID130
While we do not believe the DMCA is the best written law ever, in contrary we believe it needs many improvements, it is however what guides our business in such disputes.
My cel phone is 866-293-0819. If you wouldn’t mind contacting me, I would be happy to speak with you and offer my personal advice. I am also willing to work with your contacts at EFF as we are interested in improving this antiquated governance. Please forgive my company’s rather clinical, cold notices. Our contention department is simply following correct protocol given to them. Thank you.
Best Regards,
Demian Sellfors
CEO
(mt) Media Temple, Inc
866-293-0819
Thanks for the comment, Demian. I’ll be in touch today.
I know you haven’t taken any of my content down, but you’ve threatened to do so unless I remove it myself. Which is why I’ve posted this.
There has to be some level of fact-checking before you threaten to take down content. If someone says that a person has copied something, find out what it is that has allegedly been copied – at least.
In this case, the person is alleging that the mere use of his name is tatamount to copyright infringement, which is ridiculous. As the US government indicates here, the following can be protected by copyright:
I don’t see personal names in that list.
I’ve left you two messages, Demian. Talk to you soon.
Just for the FYI of my readers … I’ve left the two aformentioned messages on Demian’s “cell phone” (it may be a cell phone but it’s got some fancy call management software thing sitting in front of it) and gotten no response, and no answer to the email I sent him as well.
No biggie, the issue is resolved now, but mildly disappointing.
[…] contrasting that with the treatment I recently received at the hands of my current host, […]
it is very interesting to read about how the big pIayers in the hosting business are doing, back in the 2000 there was a reaI struggIe to stay in business due to huge competition but it Iooks Iike nowadays everyone has their own domain and therefore their own hosting company, myspace is perhaps the starting point for this type of concept but of course there wiII aIways be copyright reIated issues here and there but it shouId not be taken to seriousIy because in today’s freedom of speech anyone is basicIy abIe to say anything they want just about anything, i wouId assume not having the freedom to use certain words in something wouId be a restriction on freedom of speech, there are cases in which you can not protect certain terms in the pubIic media simpIy because peopIe who work are directIy working for the goverment and therefore they are a pubIic worker and they serve the pubIic, in such cases the goverment gives everyone the freedom to use their names or phrases without restrictions or copyright impIementations.