I just became aware of this and although I’m not worried at all it does make me pause for a moment. Here’s the scoop:
Call it ingenious, call it evil or call it a little of both: Copyright troll Righthaven is exploiting a loophole in intellectual property law, suing websites that might have avoided any trace of civil liability had they spent a mere $105.
That’s the fee for a blog or other website to register a DMCA takedown agent with the U.S. Copyright Office, an obscure bureaucratic prerequisite to enjoying a legal “safe harbor” from copyright lawsuits over third-party posts, such as reader comments.
Really? Huh. Scared? Here’s what you can do:
If you run a U.S. blog or a community site that accepts user content, you can register a DMCA agent by downloading this PDF form and sending $105 and the form to:
Copyright RRP
Box 71537
Washington, D.C., 20024
Now you can breathe easy.
In the end, I’ll probably send in my 105 bucks but thought I’d ask the community of their thoughts.
Alex says
Im not even sure i understand what this all means.
I get that Righthaven is suing for using copyrighted content on a blog. But by filling this form and fee you are supposed be protected from the lawsuit? How does it work exactly?
Ben Miller says
I just need to send $105 to some PO box and I’m all set?
That is ridiculous. There is no way I’m paying this tax. What a shakedown. Go ahead and sue me.
Just kidding, don’t sue me. 🙂 But I’m still not paying this.
Joanna says
Where do blogs run by people outside America but on an American host (eg. Blogger) stand with this?
Mike Loomis says
smells fishy – and (not to sound paranoid) we don’t need to feed a government database of bloggers… right?
Graham Brenna says
Sounds like a scam…