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A Great Response to a Cease and Desist Letter

abovethelaw.com

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Re: A Great Response to a Cease and Desist Letter

#51
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>you might infringe if you were singing a copyrighted song Or if your video happens to be one of those which youtube partners don't like. Youtube, apparently, has a deal independent of the DMCA, which allows big media compan(ies) to ban any video on youtube. There was a discussion earlier today on HN, in which I said I still trust Google. This is one incidence where Google could have tried to follow its motto of "Do…

You could argue that this is the only arrangement in which YouTube can exist; is having the site with overzealous copyright enforcement worse than having no site at all? Google may prevail in court if sued for the millions of instances of infringement it hosts, but it'd still have to become the largest US employer of lawyers to handle and fund the dozens of major lawsuits it'd face every year. Is it profitable enough…

Would YT get sued by Universal even with DMCA, if YT did not have a special arrangement with Universal?

Without the option of counter-claiming, Youtube is a monarchy. I do expect a public company to have some sort of democracy, especially one who claims to follow "Do not be evil".

Re: A Great Response to a Cease and Desist Letter

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"ask who owned" not "ask whom owned". "whom" isn't just a word to put in to sound educated - it's used only when the "who" is an object. Here it is not.

You don't have to be a dick about it. I thought 'whom' was right because the subject of the sentence was 'someone'.

It might have been a little dickish, but johnminton was right. People definitely have a tendency to overuse whom in a way they wouldn't with other pronouns.

Re: A Great Response to a Cease and Desist Letter

#53
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"ask who owned" not "ask whom owned". "whom" isn't just a word to put in to sound educated - it's used only when the "who" is an object. Here it is not.

For all intensive purposes, your right, but is they're really any need to go over things with a fine toothcomb? As me and everybody else seems to feel, the point hear is mute, and I'm sure yourself agrees. Its clear enough what was meaned.

What are you doing?! I think you just gave me cancer!

Re: A Great Response to a Cease and Desist Letter

#54
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"ask who owned" not "ask whom owned". "whom" isn't just a word to put in to sound educated - it's used only when the "who" is an object. Here it is not.

For all intensive purposes, your right, but is they're really any need to go over things with a fine toothcomb? As me and everybody else seems to feel, the point hear is mute, and I'm sure yourself agrees. Its clear enough what was meaned.

What about non-intensive purposes? :-)

Re: A Great Response to a Cease and Desist Letter

#55
post #49

This reminds me about how important it is to have a solid lawyer, and an understanding of the legal ecosystem. Even in cases like this with typos, "respond in ten (10) days" can be quite intimidating, especially when there's a money/legal power asymmetry. In one such case, Monster Cable issued a C&D to a much smaller, Blue Jeans Cable. The founder actually worked in litigation for 19 years and I found this portion of…

> On the other hand, it always, locally, makes sense not to challenge claims and let some other small company deal with it. I would argue in favor of fighting back in most cases, even from a local standpoint. "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." How you behave towards bullies sends a powerful signal to other bullies. Your response can either encourage more bullying, and thus a cycle that ends in your…

Kipling put it well:

    It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,  
      For fear they should succumb and go astray;  
    So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,  
      You will find it better policy to say: --

    "We never pay any-one Dane-geld,  
      No matter how trifling the cost;  
    For the end of that game is oppression and shame,  
      And the nation that pays it is lost!"

Re: A Great Response to a Cease and Desist Letter

#56
post #6
post #3

Sadly, the letter is unreadable on Firefox Android. It's like everything is a widget these days, web pages are no longer self-contained, and usability, among other things, suffers.

Also unreadable where i work where scribd is basically useless. Would be nice if people linked to pdfs instead of scribd.

Has scribd been useful anywhere?

Re: A Great Response to a Cease and Desist Letter

#57
This is just another sad reminder of how broke the legal system is in the States. A simple fix, for this and many other types of legal bullying, make the protesting party pay ALL legal fees and a stiff penalty if they lose in court. Protects the clear cut owners who get infringed, yet weeds out bs cases like this one. Since it makes sense, is fair, and would simplify things - you know it will NEVER happen.

Re: A Great Response to a Cease and Desist Letter

#58
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could argue that this is the only arrangement in which YouTube can exist; is having the site with overzealous copyright enforcement worse than having no site at all? Google may prevail in court if sued for the millions of instances of infringement it hosts, but it'd still have to become the largest US employer of lawyers to handle and fund the dozens of major lawsuits it'd face every year. Is it profitable enough…

Would YT get sued by Universal even with DMCA, if YT did not have a special arrangement with Universal? Without the option of counter-claiming, Youtube is a monarchy. I do expect a public company to have some sort of democracy, especially one who claims to follow "Do not be evil".

> Would YT get sued by Universal even with DMCA, if YT did not have a special arrangement with Universal?

Why not? Viacom sued despite the DMCA defense.

Re: A Great Response to a Cease and Desist Letter

#60
There was a confusing bit in the "P.S." section in this letter which read like some kind of veiled threat to expose the city for tax fraud, or for some kind of tax-related misdeeds.

What was that all about?

Is it generally a good idea to put veiled threats in responses to cease-and-desist letters?

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