A competitor has issued me with a DMCA takedown notice saying that by using the
standard Moodle login page with no modifications, I have infringed his copyright.
He says my Moodle login page is too similar to his login page which he also asserts
copyright over. His login page is a standard WordPress wp-admin page.
This can't be right. Who owns Moodle? I would like to report his actions.
this can't be right moodle is open source ie free.
I only use open source software and would just curl up and die if this could happen. Can you post links of the two page?
yes of course
here is my page : http://www.institute-of-photography.com/moodle/login/index.php
here is their page: http://www.iphotographycourse.com/wp-login.php
as I am hosted in the US, Hostgator will remove my website as a matter of course
pending a counter notice FOR 10 DAYS!!
http://forums.hostgator.com/dmca-copyright-question-hostgator-specific-t33384.html
Above has EMail contacts at hostgator and a link provided off the above forum:
http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/responding-dmca-takedown-notice-targeting-your-content
Do keep us all informed, please.
'spirit of sharing', Ken
I can't see any similary besides the colours blue and white.
I used to have real issues with copyright, but none of my websites were ever down for more than a couple of days.
Make sure you keep daily backups and download them to your own pc. If they take you down suggest you must offshore.
A good shared host is mediaon.org - a Turkish company. They ignore all DMCA stuff. I used to use them for hosting but then I got a dedicated server.
Hi Ken,
I have filed a counter notification to my host.
This kind of action affects us all - no-one should assert copyright on any standard Moodle pages as they are open source.
This is opinion from the sidelines: Am not sure the person that filed an objection filled out the form properly as there was a line for URL to the contested content. Appears the moodle site doesn't allow guest login for viewing of courses so filer just used the login URL. More than likely, the filer was not objecting to the software used (login page), but the content contained therein. So wonder how HostGator handles that!
Would think that the person receiving the DMCA take down notice would be fully informed as to complaint ... specifically what, not just a URL.
2 cents!
Ken
No they bought one of my courses and also objected to content therein that they absolutely do not own.
They are specifically objecting to the use of the Moodle login page. They are saying that they own the copyright to this page.
Could you reproduce the text where the object to the page design rather than the course content.
Hi there,
For people like me who'd never heard of DMCA before, this is what Wikipedia says:
"The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures (commonly known as digital rights management or DRM) that control access to copyrighted works. It also criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself. In addition, the DMCA heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet. Passed on October 12, 1998, by a unanimous vote in the United States Senate and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 28, 1998, the DMCA amended Title 17 of the United States Code to extend the reach of copyright, while limiting the liability of the providers of on-line services for copyright infringement by their users."
About as clear as mud to me - maybe some USA people could translate.
Cheers,
Glenys
PS: This helps a bit: http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/responding-dmca-takedown-notice-targeting-your-content. Seems like you're guilty till proven innocent. Or maybe I haven't understood???
Hi, they have produced a link to their wp-admin page and all they have put down is 'infringement' with a link to our Moodle login page.
When asked for clarification, all they provided was 'entire page copied'.
Sorry, I didn't go through the whole thread to see if someone had already suggested you find out who provides them service and issue a DMCA takedown notice. Maybe then they will cut the crap.
Your story has been picked up by TechDirt. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130102/08150321541/dmca-nonsense-your-default-login-page-is-ripoff-our-default-login-page.shtml
I see that Tech Dirt have picked it up.
They have so completely understood the issues I am having which helps so much.
I have sent a counter-notice but no response so far.
Their DMCA is not valid anyway because they haven't supplied a contact name and address which I understand you must do.
Nevertheless, because of this, we have had to move from a US host to a UK host and I had to work over Christmas to achieve this. The reason is that a US host will just disable pages until a counter-notice is received and then they will allow the complaining party 10-14 days to file a law suit.
If they don't file, then the website will be reinstated - however it will still have been down for 10-14 days and because of this, I had to move the site.
This cost me 3 days of time and considerable expense.
Abuse of this system is rife and there are plenty of ways to recover damages - I understand the penalty can be as much as $100,000.
