Need help RE:Stealing info

[Watch Me Sink]

I'm having a problem with a competing forum (if you can call it that, it has about 1/20th of the number of posts as I do -lol- ). I have a ton of information about Disturbed (a band) on my website that I rooted though every single page on archive.org (since much info was taken down over time) to get as much info as I can. This other forum is stealing everything that I have posted word for word. I have also gotten threatening private messages through the band's official site from the owner.

There are two problems.
1. I am within days of releasing a full sized fansite with tons of information I have gotten from things that aren't even on the internet archive (pictures from friends of the band, info from them too) and I want to make it public, but I'm reluctant to do that now that this BS is happening. Another problem is that there is a very good chance that I will be interviewing a band member, and I only want the interview posted with a link to my site. Of course this will probably be on Blabbermouth.net, so I would be getting tons of traffic that day, and soon to follow but...
2. One of the admins has tons of YouTube videos up, and a link in every one of those videos would bring that site so that it would be competing with my site.

Any help would be nice (I already reported the site to forumotion, as they have an illegal MP3 on the site)

 

[ℓєσ gнσѕт]

Report that threatening message, the official site can threaten a 'copyright claim' against them and knowing forumotion the site will be gone within a few hours.

If not, then YOU make a 'copyright' claim against their site. If all else fails, let me know, they won't be up for too long after that -😉-

 

[Watch Me Sink]

©2008-2009 Elochai Productions™

And yep. I reported that they have now 2 illegal downloads on their site, and said that the record company has been taking down websites and videos daily (PS Warner Brothers SUCKS, too bad Disturbed still has to do another album with them), and I said that I owned copyright claim to some of that stuff. I have reported it a few times...nothing. I even reported it on different IPs. -roll-

 

[spyka]

You yourself copied it from websites so you can't really complain. The fact that these websites aren't up anymore doesn't mean they still don't retain copyright on them.

You then have the issue of 'fair use' to deal with which is a very grey area.

There is then the problem with the internet in that you may be located in the US, this guy may be in India and the server the copyrighted content is on is in the UK. That is to say there are 3 different countries each of which have different laws in terms of copyright, what is and what isn't wrong, etc.

In regards to posting further information such as pictures: not much you can really do. You could file a DCMA complaint to the host. That basically will be you claiming that the content they are hosting is yours and that you want it removed. However, if you do so when you do not own the copyright you yourself may be sued or tried for contempt of court. The DCMA is also a US law so if the site is hosted elsewhere then, as before, it's useless.

I'd HOPE forumotion or any other host would like to see some form of legal documentation before pulling a forum, not just a random email from someone claiming they own the stuff on someones forum.

There isn't really much you can do that wouldn't cost a lot of money in legal costs and for a few pictures of a band you have to wonder if it's really worth it.

In regards to the YouTube thing, that is life. You'll just have to find another way to compete - post your own videos for example

 

[Watch Me Sink]

You yourself copied it from websites so you can't really complain. The fact that these websites aren't up anymore doesn't mean they still don't retain copyright on them.

I didn't copy it word for word (like they did), but I see what you're saying.

 

[ℓєσ gнσѕт]

Honestly, this is why life is alot easier with things like KopiMi and Creative Commons. If you really want to get into detail, please remove the 'TM' off 'Elochai Productions™, unless you paid for it.

At this point the only thing you can do anything about is the illegal MP3 files.

 

[Watch Me Sink]

Eh, you are right. -razz-

Though this may seem to contridict my earlier statement, I think that most things shouldn't have a copyright. Music for one thing. Really all that a CD is, is a way to make a record company rich. Bands don't get much out of it. Touring is what bands really earn money on. Think of it like this. How did Metallica make money between St. Anger (a terrible album, that didn't sell) and Death Magnetic? They were on tour, and earned money there.

To uncontridict myself, I think that if somebody copies something that is yours and passes it off as their own work (source code, an interview, an essay) is completely wrong.

To tell you the truth, bands shouldn't be mad at fansites, since they ARE promoting the band (unless there are illegal mp3s). For a while (mostly in the 1990's) KoRn was a really underground band, and had a huge fanbase. If those fans didn't violate copyright laws and
•Hand out the music to friends
•Make fansites (later on)
•Get images and paint them on their cars (I have seen this -lol- )
Korn would be a dead band.

Well now you know what music I listen to -lol-

A quick question. If a band has a mp3 on their website to download, but it is later taken off, can that song be re-distributed, since it was released for free?

 

[spyka]

Honestly, this is why life is alot easier with things like KopiMi and Creative Commons. If you really want to get into detail, please remove the 'TM' off 'Elochai Productions™, unless you paid for it.

Again we have a problem with multiple copyright laws.

In the UK (no idea about the US) you can use TM without payment. TM means you are claiming it as a trademark. You use the registered sysmbol if you pay for it: ® (not sure if that will come out)

TM means you are claiming it as a trademark but you haven't pad, (r) means you have paid.

From http://www.egos.co.uk/FAQ/TRADEMRK.HTM#registered:

You can use the letters TM (generally in a sans serif typeface) after a mark to show that you claim it to be a Trade Mark, and you can do this regardless of whether or not the mark is registered. Equally, you don't have to.

 

[Watch Me Sink]

Yeah I saw that on wikipedia. I took it off the main theme, since it doesn't really matter if it is tradmarked or not, I still own the forum.

 

[ℓєσ gнσѕт]

My school taught me (although that is brainwashing, keep in mind) that you can only use the (TM) symbol when you have paid the correct fees and have recieved the form saying that you own it. That could be completely wrong though, and i'll need to look into it. I don't claim any copyrights on anything I do though... as of now. Even if I sell stuff I don't think I will.

People need to be more like Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails & Street Sweeper, who all released MP3s free today (these guys did it through bittorrent)
http://ninja2009.com/

 

[Watch Me Sink]

Street Sweeper -bigeyes- The same Street Sweeper with Tom Morello and Stanton Moore? No way!