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Copyright Infringer Tries To Shut Down Reporting On Her Infringement

An anonymous reader writes "Further to the previous story on Slashdot where attorney Candice Schwager threw threats to sue a photographer who reported a DMCA violation against her for infringing use of his photography: Candice has now made a DMCA threat of her own against Petapixel, a photography site that reported on her infringement. The kicker? She's sent the DMCA notice an apparent six times not to Petapixel's registrar or their hosting service, but to Godaddy, her own registrar."

21 of 418 comments (clear)

  1. Off of her Meds.. by pro151 · · Score: 5, Funny

    She is!

    1. Re:Off of her Meds.. by Anubis+IV · · Score: 5, Funny

      If Yoda here thinks she's loony, you know she is.

  2. this woman is an attorney? by sdnoob · · Score: 5, Funny

    how the fuck did that happen?

    oh, wait.. she's from texas. never mind.

    1. Re:this woman is an attorney? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      how the fuck did that happen?

      oh, wait.. she's from texas. never mind.

      how the fuck did that happen?

      oh, wait.. she's from texas. never mind.

      I think somebody from texas, or several slashdotters from texas need to take copies of all this and send it to the texas state bar: Technically the:
      State Bar of Texas Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, for their review, this woman if she is indeed a lawyer needs to be dealt with swiftly. Also the state congressmen and senator need to be contacted if the state bar doesn't do anything because she is giving the great state of texas a bad name.

    2. Re:this woman is an attorney? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      sorry for posting this earlier, but I figured its relevant, btw I'm not an american, I'm a Canadian, but I just hate it when a good state looks stupid because of one person, especially texas because southern texas women are HOT.

      To file a complaint you must:

      Contact a CDC Regional Office

      If you have questions about the grievance process or the status of a grievance, or if you need to request a grievance form, please call the office located nearest you.

      Austin, Texas
      Phone: (512) 427-1350, or
            (877) 953-5535
            Fax: (512) 427-4169

      Chief Disciplinary Counsel
            1414 Colorado St.
            Austin, Texas 78701

      Dallas, Texas
            Phone: (972) 383-2900
            Fax: (972) 383-2935

      Chief Disciplinary Counsel
            14651 Dallas Parkway, Ste 925
            Dallas, Texas 75254

      Houston, Texas
            Phone: (713) 758-8200
            Fax: (713) 758-8292

      Chief Disciplinary Counsel
            600 Jefferson, Ste. 1000
            Houston, Tx 77002

      San Antonio, Texas
            Phone: (210) 208-6600
            Fax: (210) 208-6625

      Chief Disciplinary Counsel
            Federal Reserve Building
            126 E. Nueva, Suite 200
            San Antonio, Texas 78204

      How to file a complaint:

      http://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Filing_a_Complaint&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=15451

      Grievance Form:

      http://www.texasbar.com/Content/NavigationMenu/ForThePublic/TheGrievanceProcess/HowtoFileaGrievance/GrievanceFormEnglish.pdf

    3. Re:this woman is an attorney? by darkmeridian · · Score: 5, Informative

      Read her blog. She sounds insane: http://attorney4specialneeds.blogspot.com/

      "Isn't it ironic? Atty4kids' suffering began when a crafty Houston Chronicle Help Desk Guy, Jay Lee asserted what appeared to be false claims for copyright violation against her, wiping out this and 13 websites 8 days before the primary, under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act ("DMCA"). Why do I believe it was false? A litany of facts suggesting Jay has very naughty. "Fair Use" Doctrine. Jay Lee and his outrageous lynch mob media printing lies to smear Candice have gone so over the top, there's simply more to the story. I've never met anyone so masochistic, begging to be smacked, as Jay. Call in the lynch mob! It goes all the way to Scotland! what's really up? Why would grown men put on an act like this,assassinating the Character of the President & Founder of Attorneys for Special Needs Children? Jay Lee is a hacker and tech expert and knows everything imaginable about computers. He would certainly know how to take down 14 of Atty4kids' websites with a single accusation. He would also know that images can be purchased through licensing, if he did not truly own the image motivating him to slice her jugular. What was wrong with sites? Sheriff Garcia was called a cry baby and couldn't take it. Artsy people like Lee usually possess many talents. He is an Amatuer photographer. He had a right to file te claim if true, but Most people are kind enough to first notify the person going for the jugular. He did not. He whines that he didn't know this would occur, unlikely story. What I think he failed to anticipate was the devastation and anger he'd cause to a mom with three kids who is deeply committed to advancing the Civil Rights of Special Needs Children (Atty4kids) who is a force to be reckoned with. Realizing the damage caused, he withdrew his sworn infringement claim immediately and practically begged her ISP to restore service quickly. Whether her suspicions are right or not, HE SHOULD HAVE HIT THE ROAD After she apologized, offered payment, permitting him to NAME HIS PRICE, he withdrew the accusation and the image was removed. He did not, but began stalking Atty4kids on Twitter and accused her of infringement AGAIN in fron of 1700 followers. Livid, she said "you better be joking" and he disappeared in abject fear. Coupled with the bait and switch game he played on Flickr, theres reason for concen. First, he scripted a drama for others to play that was enough to make you vomit. He wrote his pathetic sob story all over the photo with a frowny face as onlookers gawked ooh, aah, and spoke of the money he should have been paid on Flickr, UNAWARE that he could have NAMED THE PRICE and FAILED. 10 seconds was my limit. I left ad clicked the link a short time afterwards of curiosity, POOF! GONE! A magician like Sheriff Garcia? With the Chronicle Head Sheriff Garcia's crafty weasly Campaign Manager, free lessons? What are the odds that less than 24 hours after calling Garcia a cry baby and 8 days prior to primary, her VERY POLITICAL, HIGH RANKED blog, Chicks and Politics, would be suspended by a hacking pro employed with the Chronicle! If you knew Bernie's influence with the Chronicle, you'd laugh. She traced the Twitter stalker immediately, finding Jay and his Chronicle association she knew before even looking. Media Libels Atty4kids & Violates Her COPYRIGHT (DMCA) Jay milked the horrific tragedy for 4 days at which time Atty had enough and demanded he remove all of his libel, infringement and harassment from the web within 2 hours. Several cease and desist letters were sent, but this one hit a nerve. Maybe it was Atty's advice, "Get a lawyer," for 4 days, every parasite imaginable seeking to cash in (they are collecting funds for Jay's Defense), not yet realizing they'll need one too, is defaming her too. Theyve republished a BS atiry to inflict damage. Keep it up, morons! Damages are looking great! Atty has given 1000 hours in our fight foe justice for disabled kids. She

      --
      A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
    4. Re:this woman is an attorney? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      oh, wait.. she's from texas. never mind.

      You might have just as well said something along the lines "she was black, that explains everything". It's the same fucking sort of bullshit.

      Texas has produced a lot of brilliant engineers, scientists, leaders, and good regular people too.

      Have states like California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, and etc. ever produced douchebags? Of course not...

    5. Re:this woman is an attorney? by Cyberllama · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Well you know Schizophrenia can sometimes have a late onset. I'm not a doctor, but her writing definitely has a certain rambling, imbalanced quality to it. That whole, huge thing was one long paragraph on the theme of "everyone is out to get me". It's possible that she is genuinely mentally ill, and yet she might have been a competent attorney once. All I can say is that, as a layman, I was somewhat concerned for her mental health after reading that blog entry. It doesn't strike me as the writings of a sane person, but I'm not an expert.

    6. Re:this woman is an attorney? by Cruciform · · Score: 5, Informative

      Low IDs don't mean anything. Otherwise all Cro-Magnons would have been quantum physicists.

  3. Petapixel's registrar is GoDaddy by truesaer · · Score: 5, Informative

    petapixel's registrar appear to also be GoDaddy. Of course that may not be their host...in fact probably is not. Her takedown notice still makes her sound like a lunatic though.

  4. Clarification here by MobyDisk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Petapixel is reporting on her copyright infringement. As such they have a thumbnail screen shot of her site as proof. That thumbnail includes her logo, just barely readable. This woman needs to go back to law school and look up "fair use" and the difference between copyrights and trademarks. Next thing you know, she will be claiming copyright infringement for publishing her DMCA letter. If she really is practicing law then she ought to be disbarred for her behavior.

  5. Re:WTF? by chrismcb · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes you are right, the story doesn't make sense. And the summary doesn't help. The story:
    Jay Lee, a photographer, took a picture. Discovered many people were using it. Issued DMCA notices
    Candice, was using the picture to promote a business. Go Daddy received DMCA and took down all 14 of Candice's sites. She freaked.

    That was basically the original story.
    PetaPixel reported on the issue, included a screenshot of Candice's use of Jay's photo.
    Remember I said Candice flipped? So apparently she issued SIX DMCAs to GoDaddy because she claims PetaPixel's screenshot of her site is copyright infringement (when in reality it is fair use)

  6. Re:Please stop trying to scapegoat by The+Master+Control+P · · Score: 5, Interesting

    According to Rmoney, 500000 a month would be successful.

    Of course, Obama is a recipreversexclusion - had the economy created half a million jobs last month, they'd be saying it should create 2 million. No matter what he did or was (allegedly) responsible for, it's wrong.

    Much like Libya, when before Obama and NATO intervened the Republicans were screaming that something had to be done. And while the intervention was occurring, they suddenly cared deeply about undeclared wars and demanded he stop. And afterwards, when we were done (in a month, for under a billion dollars, and with none of the men sent to do it suffering so much as a purple nurple) they continued whinging that we never should've intervened in the first place.

    And their base believed each of these things in turn, and never saw how ridiculous that is. This exact kind of pattern repeats again, and again, and again. It's been going on for decades. The lack of retrospection and introspection in the Republican party and right-wingers in general never ceases to amaze and/or horrify me. I just don't understand how anyone can listen to someone like Hannity or Glenn Beck and not eventually realize "This person's claims have no relation to what actually happens. This person is never right about anything. I should stop listening to them." Seriously! How the hell does that not happen?

  7. Re:Suing herself? How you say .... by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is there any way you can mod the submission itself as "Funny"?

    Seriously - for an alleged lawyer, not knowing what the DMCA is, how to use it, and doing so in a manner that simply boils over the ol' cauldron full of dumbass?

    Umm, yeah. At this point, forget counter-suing. If I were the guy who inadvertently opened this particular can of crazy, I'd start loudly and openly asking the Texas State Bar to consider distancing themselves from Ms Schwager as quickly as possible, and with unabashed prejudice.

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  8. What the... by nitehawk214 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From a post on her batshit insane rambling website.

    Jay is a hacker and tech expert and knows everything imaginable about computers. He would certainly know how to take down 14 of Atty4kids’ websites with a single accusation. He would also know that images can be purchased through licensing, if he did not truly own the image motivating him to slice her jugular. He undoubtedly knows how to kill a server with a Trojan virus, though I’m not suggesting he did this to a mom of three little boys, one with special needs.

    And SHE is suing HIM for libel. Holy shit.

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  9. Re:WTF? by beelsebob · · Score: 5, Informative

    Awww, you missed the funniest bit – She was using his photo on her site, on a page talking about copyright infringement, and how you mustn't do it.

  10. Re:Please stop trying to scapegoat by bzipitidoo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Folks, you're too quick to conclude that Republican voters are stupid. I know quite a few old white guys who are actually smart people, and who vote Republican. What they think does make sense, if the premises they believe are true. They are stuck in the 1950's, stuck on the American ideal of the rugged individualist, and the march of progress. They still believe in getting ahead through hard work, in pushing their children to strike out on their own, and they've seen well-meaning social aid enable dependency. They know it's a hard world, and they believe tough love is the best way to help others. Most of all, they still have a charming sort of optimism that society is largely in control of honest people who will reward others for a job well done, and that the world is a stable place that is not going to get warmer, and there is no call for panic and massive spending over what seems to them fantastical and most unlikely. Much more pressing matters are foreign enemies, which in those days were of course the Commies. In all this, there is none of the lunatic social conservative. These guys remember the times when Democrats were a collection of hippies, artists, impractical dreamers, morons, and slackers sponging off the hard work of our engineers and scientists, and hiding behind the shield of our military. 1969 really reinforced that. Woodstock looks shabby, pointless, and downright irresponsible next to the moon landing. Yes, it was a Democratic president, Kennedy, who proposed it, but the Republicans were quick to see the military potential of space. They simply do not see that today, the Republican party has completely flip flopped on science. Note also that Vietnam was pushed by the Democrats as much as or more than the Republicans. Neither party seemed capable or willing to stop that war. Ford was the president who finally ended Vietnam, not a peace loving Democrat.

    There are cracks. They haven't given up on the Republican party, but they are wavering. The anti-science, anti-fact craziness is harder than ever to overlook, and is bothering them. The fraud and corruption of recent years that lead to the Great Recession also bothers them, but on that front the Democrats are indistinguishable-- all politicians and liars and crooks. It doesn't help that Obama has basically done at best nothing to curb the excesses and crimes of the financial sector. Only Madoff has been imprisoned. We are in peril of another financial meltdown. The PIIGS, particularly Greece, will undoubtedly be blamed for much of it. But there's plenty we can do in the US whatever happens with Europe. The sad fact is like with the Vietnam War in the 60's, neither party seems willing to take steps to do so. We need to bolster honesty and transparency in the markets and politics. Got to police the markets, get tough on white collar crime. Who are you supposed to vote for if you feel Wall Street fraud and campaign finance is our biggest problem? Whoever is not currently in power?

    --
    Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
  11. Re:Suing herself? How you say .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wrong.

    Current Member Status: Eligible To Practice In Texas

    http://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Find_A_Lawyer&template=/Customsource/MemberDirectory/MemberDirectoryDetail.cfm&ContactID=198610

  12. Re:WTF? by rtfa-troll · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This may be the chance; she seems crazy enough to actually lose. PetaPixel should report the perjury and we should all pile in with donations to support them. Getting a precedent set in this direction would really really help.

    --
    =~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
  13. Re:Suing herself? How you say .... by Joce640k · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seriously - for an alleged lawyer, not knowing what the DMCA is, how to use it

    What's weird about that? The people who drafted the law didn't know much about it and the people who voted to pass it knew even less.

    --
    No sig today...
  14. Re:Please stop trying to scapegoat by penix1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since this, like a lot of stories here at /. has gone political, let me weigh in...

    President Obama's biggest mistake was trying to rescue the Republicans when they were at an all time low thinking he needed "bipartisanship" to get things passed. He had 3/4ths of the power (lacking only the Supreme Court) and he treated the opposition like they were equal partners. Like my dad always said, leave it to the Democrats to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. Instead of using the Tea Party lunacy like a knife twisting it in the belly of the beast, they allowed the Republicans to set not only the tone of the argument but the agenda as if they were still in power.

    Anyway, to try and bring this back around, this attorney is just about as batty as any Tea Party Patriot. I guess it is a sign of the times.

    --
    This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.