http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/striking-back-agains...
EDIT: But it's great that Automattic are fighting this, and I wish them best luck.
Disclaimer (?): I'm an Automattic employee.
There's an ongoing case right now that would test whether "loss of free speech" is a recoverable damage.
Best of luck to Automattic, it's nice to see someone taking action.
Also, the takedown requires a much weaker statement under perjury than the counter-takedown. "the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed". There's (bizarrely) no need to claim good faith.
Edit: here's my story: https://medium.com/this-happened-to-me/9ccd3a157914
Seems like the real prize is setting a precedent to be used in other cases. It would seem recovering monetary awards from international parties may be quite difficult or impossible.
That was my initial thought, especially from the point of view of comments above about it being difficult for small companies to afford a suit.
Not a lawyer, but it must be faster/cheaper/easier to sue after a precedent has been made that can be referred to
This kind of abuse is often a tool used by scoundrels in acrimonious disputes. Surely, people have wanted to sue in the past. What's been stopping people up until now?
> We receive hundreds of DMCA notices and try our best to review, identify and push back on those we see as abusive. Our users have the right to challenge a DMCA complaint too, but doing so requires them to identify themselves and fill out a legally required form saying that they submit to being sued for copyright infringement in a place that may be far away. If they don’t, their content is taken down and could stay down forever. This tradeoff doesn’t work for the many anonymous bloggers that we host on WordPress.com, who speak out on sensitive issues like corporate or government corruption.
That's a nice thought. But I think it might be better to save your money for someone who needs it. This lawsuit is not being brought by a couple of guys working out of someone's basement, but by a successful company with hundreds of employees. I imagine they can afford it.
http://www.popehat.com/2013/11/21/wordpress-goes-on-the-offe...
Any information who made these false claims?
Isn't there a thing called 'slander of title?'
Would that thing apply in the case of representing someone else's work as your own for the purpose of issuing a DMCA?
