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LayerVault Sends DMCA Takedown Letter re Flat-UI

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Re: LayerVault Sends DMCA Takedown Letter re Flat-UI

#33

Post by BaconJuice »

rustc wrote: post #26
Pyramids wrote: post #19

Filing a counter notification is extremely straightforward, and moves this to a court dispute, which will almost undoubtedly never happen. You can use Chilling Effects Counter-Notification generator to automate the process: http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca/counter512.pdf For those who are unfamiliar with DMCA notices, in short: 1. Content Provider Receives DMCA 2. Content Provider must act 'expeditiously' to remov…

Curious: What happens if the individual in question is NOT in the US? Can this still be done?

By the looks of it, I don't think they are. But I think Github will take it down since its hosted in the US?

Re: LayerVault Sends DMCA Takedown Letter re Flat-UI

#36

Post by Sujan »

ck2 wrote: post #31

I thought "look and feel" lawsuits over UI were settled long ago? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Software#.22Look_and_feel...

From the DMCA takedown letter:

> I am the exclusive rights holder for the artwork contained within Flat UI

That's quite a difference to "look and feel". Right now, there is just not enough information to know what this is all about.

Re: LayerVault Sends DMCA Takedown Letter re Flat-UI

#38

Post by Sujan »

ajross wrote: post #23
bencevans wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flat UI ( http://designmodo.github.com/Flat-UI/ ) in an open source project along the same lines as Twitter Bootstrap. or another bootstrappable interface framework. LayerVault ( https://layervault.com/ ) are a company that provide a version control system for design work.

Thanks. This isn't directed at you personally, more at the community mindpool: And did Flat UI derive artwork from LayerVault? Is there a connection between the developers? Did they work with the same artist? Certainly some of the icons on the two sites look similar, though I don't see any obvious duplication. A critically important step in any hot blooded DMCA freakout is verifying whether or not infringement took p…

I don't have the answers to these questions, but I'm happy I'm not the only one that wants these answered before I jump to conclusions and bash LayerFaul OR the Flat UI people.

Re: LayerVault Sends DMCA Takedown Letter re Flat-UI

#40

Post by Pyramids »

rustc wrote: post #26
Pyramids wrote: post #19

Filing a counter notification is extremely straightforward, and moves this to a court dispute, which will almost undoubtedly never happen. You can use Chilling Effects Counter-Notification generator to automate the process: http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca/counter512.pdf For those who are unfamiliar with DMCA notices, in short: 1. Content Provider Receives DMCA 2. Content Provider must act 'expeditiously' to remov…

Curious: What happens if the individual in question is NOT in the US? Can this still be done?

EDIT: After rereading your question, I'm assuming you're referring to a situation similar to my third example scenario, that might best address it.

Generally:

- If the content provider is outside of the United States, DMCA is not valid whatsoever. However, some organizations, especially in English speaking countries, will honor it simply as a notice of infringement.

- If the individual sending the complaint is outside the United States, but the content provider is within the US, usually the content provider will cooperate anyway to protect themselves from legal obligation under Safe Harbor provisions.

- If the end user receiving the complaint is outside the United States and the content provider is within the US then the content provider should still honor the counter notice and would be covered by Safe Harbor provisions. I'm not sure on the specifics of this, however you must at minimum consent to the jurisdiction of US Federal Law for any further actions.

For the most part, the content provider / hosting company will do what is in their best interest to legally safeguard themselves, with little regard for end user rights. Generally speaking, the larger the company the moreso this applies.

Github seems like a reasonable organization, and if you submit a counter notification in valid format they should act accordingly.

Also, I see the Chilling Effects URL is getting hammered, here's a static version which you can modify: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Terrorism/form-letter.html

While unrelated to this issue specifically, something which is interesting to note is that in a several year old paper from Vanderbilt University, they specifically mention a provision dealing with enforcing the DMCA on foreign websites. While this provision has never been used to my knowledge it does exist and is quite scary considering the implications:

While direct action against a foreign site is not possible in U.S. courts, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) allows courts to order the blocking of infringing sites. Section 512(j)(1)(B)(ii) (the “Foreign Site Provision”) permits an order to restrain an Internet service provider (“ISP”) from providing access to a “specific, identified, online location outside the United States.” Therefore this provision, with some limitations, may be used to block U.S. access to infringing foreign sites.

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