DMCA Takedown!
6For those that may not know, I’m a fairly regular shirt.woot artist. Occasionally (more than I would like) Woot passes on my submissions and rather than having them collect digital cobwebs, I launch them on my TeePublic site.
There was a vintage logo derby some time ago, and this was my entry:
Since it (obviously) didn’t go anywhere I loaded it on Teepublic this morning. Two hours later, I get this in my inbox:
I can’t believe there’s enough here to actually consider it infringing on intellectual property. All I can imagine is that they used my keywords (game of thrones, white walker, etc) as a keyoff to some automated bot search on their behalf.
What do you guys think? Am I infringing or should I resub with less “owned” keywords?
- 8 comments, 27 replies
- Comment
I am NOT a lawyer, but I can’t see why HBO would put a claim on this. I suspect an auto-filed claim, and it might be worth a counter notice.
I am NOT a lawyer, but I can see where using GoT keywords, making a play off of a GoT catchphrase might be a little too close. If not for the existence of HBO’s GoT, that shirt would not have been made, correct?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@therealjrn Totally. But that’s parody, and I’m not making any specific reference to the show or it’s characters. Sure you can intuit the source material, but this is far less direct than many other shirts I’ve seen online (on woot and elsewhere) when it comes to this show.
@ACraigL So are you going to fight the man? I think you may have a valid point about it being a parody. Do you think TeePublic might be willing to fight the man with you? I think you should fight the man.
@ACraigL remove the keywords. that’s the issue. it’s an automated filing (& they will likely win).
HBO is fanatic about this. If you can’t fight them, change the keywords.
IANAL, but if I had to guess, it’s the keywords that triggered the notice. Drop the keywords, and it might fly, but then it’s probably going to be lost among thousands of other designs.
FWIW, “fair use” doesn’t truly cover the legalities for the artist. Using that as an excuse is still acknowledging that the artist knew what’s being referenced is intellectual property of another entity.
My advice: HBO has deeper pockets than you. Call it practice and don’t fight it.
@ACraigL Some reading material about fan works:
http://inyourwritemind.setonhill.edu/yes-fanworks-are-illegal-harsh-truths-about-copyright-fair-use/
@narfcake *everything is illegal unless you’re J.K. Rowling
@narfcake FWIW, I do agree with you Narf. Without the keywords, it’s not worth the risk for the meager (if any) sales it would generate there.
@ACraigL
It is possible that HBO polices items on some sites strongly; and that HBO is far more forgiving regarding sales if independently created items on other sites.
Havent I seen GOT themed stuff in Woot?
Can you get the design into a site where HBO is more lenient?
I found you the perfect shirt!
https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/1564770-i-joined-teepublic-dmca-takedown-black
@thismyusername Hahaha! Awesome.
@thismyusername @ACraigL I respect that TeePublic recognizes such instead of other print-on-demand sites that act like this when it comes to “inspired” designs and thieves:
@narfcake There’s policing infringement, and then there’s spamming false claims like a Nigerian banker.
GoT itself would be “infringing” on hundreds of different sources if the law were that open. The show could have never been made.
I am three lawyers standing on each other’s shoulders inside a trench coat with a hat and sunglasses, and I think you have a solid case. Take 'em down!
@Moose Yeah right. I’ve seen what you actually look like:
Also:
/giphy solid case
@Moose Vincent?
@Moose
/giphy little rascals trench coat
@Moose Are you offering @snapster’s financial backing when this goes to the supreme court?
/giphy they’re called boobs ed
FWIW, I expected to see Erin Brockovitch, but I’m not totally disappointed with what came up.
I find it hard to believe that HBO has an exclusive right to the word “winter” and blue eyes.
@sammydog01 That’s kinda where I was at.
@sammydog01 hbo is very copyright claim happy, and most people dont have the lawyers/ experience to defend against this
@ACraigL Were you planning on filing a counter-notice?
@dashcloud I think he’s going to put on this wig he got in the BOC and heed to the words in the song:
@dashcloud I don’t know why I would even bother putting a spotlight on myself like that. Clearly it was discovered by the keywords, and it’s unlikely that I was even named personally in the C&D. If I were to do anything, I’d resub it, avoiding keywords resembling GoT content. But as @narfcake pointed out, the odds of it being found without those makes it maybe not even worth the risk of being called out a second time.
@ACraigL Maybe change it to a 30 Days of Night thing?
@snapster the betting pool is now open on whether the first takedown notice you receive is from HBO or the T-shirt place.
@Pavlov Good one. Except it would be difficult to argue meh.com is trading on either “protected” item since there is no revenue generating advertising on this page and only Mehtizens are reading.
@Pavlov @RedOak Does American Lighting’s letter constitute a C&D order?
https://meh.com/forum/topics/dear-meh-com-1
@narfcake I have no idea. I’m no attorney. But at least meh.com was selling American Lighting’s product, right?
@RedOak True. Meh wasn’t selling Canadian Lighting or Mexican Lighting or something like that.
@narfcake @RedOak guys guys don’t rustle Jake’s jimmies.
@thismyusername
/image jimmies
/image sprinkles