Chilling Effects Clearinghouse > DMCA Safe Harbor > Notices > Solar Illuminations not brightened by claimed copying (NoticeID 2123, http://chillingeffects.org/N/2123)

Location: https://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?NoticeID=2123

Solar Illuminations not brightened by claimed copying

June 28, 2005

Sender Information:
Solar Illuminations / fourth dimension securities inc.
Sent by: [Private]
[Private]
Cape Coral, FL, 33909, US

Recipient Information:
User Support, DMCA Complaints
Google, Inc.
Mountain View, CA, 94043, USA

Sent via: postal mail
Re:

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are writing to file a notice of Copyright infringement against a company called Silicon Solar of Bainbridge, New York. This particular company over the past year has regularly visited our web site and takes our text and images for use on its own web site as it is a competitor of ours. We are no longer going to accept this and will take whatever necessary action to put this matter to a stop. Please find enclosed a copy of a recent letter that has been faxed and mailed to the offending company. This should prove self explanatory. The copyrighted work at issue is the images and text that appears at the following URL's as found when conducting a search at google.com, yahoo.com or various other search engines:

URL: http://www.siliconsolar.com/solar_flag_lights.html
IMAGES: http://www.siliconsolar.com/multi-purpose-flag.jpg & http://www.siliconsolar.com/new_solar_flag_lights.html TEXT: http://www.siliconsolar.com/solar_flag_lights.htm

URL: http://www.siliconsolar.com/stainless_steel_garden_light.html IMAGE: http://www.siliconsolar.com/stainl2.jpg

The offender (Silicon Solar) has a home page URL of www.siliconsolar.com and provides an address of [private], Bainbridge, NY 13733, email: [private]@siliconsolar.com / Tel: 1-[private]

Please find attached copies of web pages showing images, text and URL's which have been taken by the offender.

I have good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. I swear, under the penalty of perjury, 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.

Yours sincerely,
[Signature]
[private]
Solar Illuminations

PS
I now understand that there are other companies that are now claiming that Silicon Solar is taking copyrighted images from other web sites and using them on their own web site. It is likely other companies will be in touch with you about this. We have had no luck in trying to communicate with this company and they never answer the phone, reply to faxes or emails. Pulling a copy of the Better Business Bureau file on this company appears to show a `shady' operation. We find it so strange as to why Google promotes this company so highly in its search rankings when it appears nothing more than a `rouge' operation.
[Screenshots]

[private] Cape Coral, Florida, 33909. USA. Telephone: [private] 1 [private] Fax: [private]
By Fax & Mail
Silicon Solar Inc.
[private],
Bainbridge,
NY 13733

June 22nd 2005
Dear Sir,

You are hereby requested to immediately remove the following images from your web site and return all copies to the owner (namely Solar Illuminations).

IMAGES:
http://www.siliconsolar.com/muti-purpose-flag.jpg
http://www.siliconsolar.com/new_solar flag_light jpg
FOUND AT URL: http://www.siliconsolar.com/solar_flag_lights.httn
IMAGE:
http://www.siliconsolar.com/stainl2.jpg
FOUND AT URL:
http://www.siliconsolar.com/stainless_steel_garden_light.htm

Failure to comply will result in this matter being passed to our Attorney who no doubt will take all appropriate action against your company for copyright infringement and commence such legal proceeding as felt necessary and without further notice.

We have all necessary information to prove the theft of our images and text from our web site. These have been used at your site for over two months. We have your IP address logged regularly visiting our web site. Clearly you have an obsession for visiting our web site, monitoring it and attempting to duplicate.

We suggest you take your own photographs and use your own text and not steal from other web sites. We also suggest you think of your own ideas.

Sincerely,
Solar Illuminations
cc. Solar Illuminations UK H.Q.
cc. Herringtons Solicitors

image

FAQ: Questions and Answers

[back to notice text]

Question: Why does a search engine get DMCA takedown notices for materials in its search listings?

Answer: Many copyright claimants are making complaints under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Section 512(d), a safe-harbor for providers of "information location tools." These safe harbors give providers immunity from liability for users' possible copyright infringement -- if they "expeditiously" remove material when they get complaints. Whether or not the provider would have been liable for infringement by users' materials it links to, the provider can avoid the possibility of a lawsuit for money damages by following the DMCA's takedown procedure when it gets a complaint. The person whose information was removed can file a counter-notification if he or she believes the complaint was erroneous.

Question: What does a service provider have to do in order to qualify for safe harbor protection?

Answer: In addition to informing its customers of its policies (discussed above), a service provider must follow the proper notice and takedown procedures (discussed above) and also meet several other requirements in order to qualify for exemption under the safe harbor provisions.

In order to facilitate the notification process in cases of infringement, ISPs which allow users to store information on their networks, such as a web hosting service, must designate an agent that will receive the notices from copyright owners that its network contains material which infringes their intellectual property rights. The service provider must then notify the Copyright Office of the agent's name and address and make that information publicly available on its web site. [512(c)(2)]
Finally, the service provider must not have knowledge that the material or activity is infringing or of the fact that the infringing material exists on its network. [512(c)(1)(A)], [512(d)(1)(A)]. If it does discover such material before being contacted by the copyright owners, it is instructed to remove, or disable access to, the material itself. [512(c)(1)(A)(iii)], [512(d)(1)(C)]. The service provider must not gain any financial benefit that is attributable to the infringing material. [512(c)(1)(B)], [512(d)(2)].

Question: What are the provisions of 17 U.S.C. Section 512(c)(3) & 512(d)(3)?
Answer: Section 512(c)(3) sets out the elements for notification under the DMCA. Subsection A (17 U.S.C. 512(c)(3)(A)) states that to be effective a notification must include: 1) a physical/electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the infringed right; 2) identification of the copyrighted works claimed to have been infringed; 3) identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed; 4) information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party (e.g., the address, telephone number, or email address); 5) a statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner; and 6) a statement that information in the complaint is accurate and that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner. Subsection B (17 U.S.C. 512(c)(3)(B)) states that if the complaining party does not substantially comply with these requirements the notice will not serve as actual notice for the purpose of Section 512.
Section 512(d)(3), which applies to "information location tools" such as search engines and directories, incorporates the above requirements; however, instead of the identification of the allegedly infringing material, the notification must identify the reference or link to the material claimed to be infringing.

Question: Does a service provider have to follow the safe harbor procedures?
Answer: No. An ISP may choose not to follow the DMCA takedown process, and do without the safe harbor. If it would not be liable under pre-DMCA copyright law (for example, because it is not contributorily or vicariously liable, or because there is no underlying copyright infringement), it can still raise those same defenses if it is sued.

Question: How do I file a DMCA counter-notice?
Answer: If you believe your material was removed because of mistake or misidentification, you can file a "counter notification" asking the service provider to put it back up. Chilling Effects offers a form to build your own counter-notice.

For more information on the DMCA Safe Harbors, see the FAQs on DMCA Safe Harbor. For more information on Copyright and defenses to copyright infringement, see Copyright.

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