DMCA and 512(f) liability

Eric Goldman:

Wrongful takedown claims, including claims premised on wrongful takedowns of Facebook pages, have faced a tough road, as numerous cases have shown. That said, the Dancing Baby (Lenz v. Universal) case is on appeal and this may change things. As mentioned above, WordPress has also gone on the offensive, targeting companies that have sent wrongful takedown notices.  (See “Striking Back Against Censorship“.) The court does not delve into the damage question here, but interestingly concludes that ambiguous takedown notices can be wrongful takedowns under 512(f). Companies are often vague about takedown procedures, and rightsholders often push the envelope, asserting copyright claims where they only have trademark claims and vice versa. This is a stray case, but you wonder whether this will spur some companies into thinking twice or being more careful about the takedowns they send. To date, there’s simply no incentive to do so, as the intermediaries gladly take the path of least resistance and simply take the content down (as Facebook did here) and the wrongful takedown claims have fared poorly.

Here:

http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2014/01/vague-takedown-notice-targeting-facebook-page-results-in-possible-liability-crossfit-v-alvies.htm