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Toyota Demands Removal of Fan Wallpapers
An anonymous reader writes "TorrentFreak reports that Toyota's lawyers have recently contacted computer wallpaper site Desktop Nexus in a blatant example of DMCA abuse. Toyota issued a blanket request to demand the immediate removal of all member-uploaded wallpapers featuring a Toyota, Lexus, or Scion vehicle (citing copyright violation), regardless of whether Toyota legally holds the copyright to the photos or not. When site owner Harry Maugans requested clarification on exactly which wallpapers were copyrighted by Toyota, he was told that for them to cite specifics (in order to file proper DMCA Takedown Notices), they would invoice Desktop Nexus for their labor."
All you're doing is taking down free advertisements all around the world and giving yourself a bad name...
Is any more evidence required for average people to avoid these 'too large for their own common sense' companies?
What I'd like someone to do is to produce a DMCA takedown order for Toyota on a piece of clothing that is worn by an actor in one of Toyota's ads.
It would be better to serve them an order to remove all ads containing clothes for copyright violation and then invoice them when they ask you to indicate which ads are violating copyright.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
Directly attacking the fans who are providing free advertising of your product is about as stupid as it gets.
Ignore the notice. It's clearly not properly formed, and should provide great evidence, should Toyota decide to start suing this guy.
~ C.
Just because somebody sends you an invoice doesn't mean that you have to pay it.
This, in fact, is a common scam technique, where somebody will send to a small business some sort of random invoice (sometimes to larger businesses) demanding payment for some random "service" that has been provided.
They (Toyota) should know full well that if they actually take legal action to collect on these invoices, that they would be thrown out of court.
But of course that does mean you have to appear in court (often not in a convenient venue) and defend why you have refused to pay on the bill if you are refusing payment.... and you have to give formal notice to the person submitting the invoice that you dispute the terms of service.
Still, if I were running this website, I would refuse payment as the DCMA is quite clear about what the law is here in terms of legal requirements to take down photos or "copyrighted content".
At the same time, who "owns the copyright" on a picture of a Lexis or other vehicle is something that can be debated in court. Yes, the photographer who made the image in the first place has rights, as does the property owner (if it wasn't in a "public" place). The physical structure of the vehicle itself can also be considered "a work of art"... which is what I guess Toyota is trying to do here. So yeah, they do have a slight point even if Toyota didn't physically take the photo.
Still, this is a P.R. nightmare and something most companies don't want to either bother with or are usually tickled that somebody is promoting their product over and above their competitors. Frankly, rather than demanding a take-down of the pictures, they ought to be sending professionally looking pictures with full republication and distribution rights granted.
If they cannot point out the specific photos they own copyrights with, Nexus does not have to comply out of obscurity of the notice. Simple as that. Try to bring that to court Toyota!
While we're at this spread the word to all major news network and let them broadcast the clip for a few minutes in evening news (or better yet, put that in the Morning section of Headline News). Let's see who is the ultimate winner here.
The proper response? Bill Toyota right back for each and every takedown.
Don't tell us, tell the board members of Toyota. Write a polite, well formed letter expressing your above stated concern. Your letter won't make a difference. My letter won't either. But when they get enough of those, the idiots responsible for this fiasco will be found and taken out of the loop.
... he was told that for them to cite specifics (in order to file proper DMCA Takedown Notices), they would invoice Desktop Nexus for their labor."
My first reaction was, "What idiot laywers, no court would award them that. Maybe they hope that the website won't spend the money to fight them." But I thought about it for a few seconds, and if the onus is on the infringer to make sure that they are not infringing, then it makes sense for them to be billed. I'm not saying it is the responsibility of the infringer to be sure they're not infringing, but if that's the case, then it's a little easier to see where this seemingly crazy statement actually came from.
Except the site owner isn't the infringer and the DMCA makes sure they can not be treated as such.
That just doesn't matter. Don't prosecute things that are benefitting you. To make an analogy: Suppose you were standing on your front lawn with your wife when she collapsed, unable to breathe. When you ran inside to call an ambulance, someone off the street ran up and successfully administered the Heimlich, saving her life. Do you prosecute him for trespassing? Do you quibble about whether the law is on your side?
Think about it. Yeah.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
You can ignore physics all you want, rest assured that it won't forget you.
It's called impact absorbtion.
Her car absorbed the impact, yours didn't. If you'd been hit by another SL-1 you'd both have ended up with injuries as neither car would have absorbed the impact. Hint, being in a rigid steel box that doesn't absorb impact is a bad thing. Without the car absorbing anything, you get hit by your car as hard as it was hit... which leads to things like hospital trips.
As it was, she subsidized you, and you walked away unhurt. Be glad.
And why in the heck did you pick the Mustang for your example? You do realize that it is, in no way, a cornering machine? It's made to go (kinda) fast in a straight line and that's it. Hell, it has a live rear axel!
Physics. It's a wonderful thing.
i don't want my car to fragment on impact. I want my car to protect me, no matter what Detroit says about crumple zones, i will never drive a car that is designed to fail.
Oh. So rather than having the crash energy absorbed by predictable crumple zones you'd rather have it focus straight into the passenger compartment and into your body and brain. Well, I suppose it's one example of Darwinism.
BD Phone Home!
Shameless plug. Like you weren't expecting it.
The consequences of everyone doing what they want would be the country we live in. Improvement is always possible, and I applaud your goals if not your methods. Shout your message from the rooftops, its a fine thing to believe so heartily in improving the world we live in.
Unfortunately, you choose to see most people as too stupid to comprehend your message, and goals, that is evident in your tone and manner of spreading your ideas.
You propose to dictate to people how they should go about their lives, telling them how they should do things. This directly contradicts with the Declaration of Independence and several articles of the Bill of Rights.
DoI:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Not your happiness, each their own.
Chuck