The Writer's Alphabet - D is for DMCA

D is for DMCA Take-Down Notice

DMCA stands for Digital Millenium Copyright Act.  This piece of legislature covers all art in it's original format and protects it's author from theft.  That means just like a song, a story can be stolen.  Remember Napster, the file-sharing website that got shut down?  They were in violation of the DMCA.  And the music industry roared and they disappeared.

Unfortunately, story pirates abound on the internet.  Which sucks.  You write a story, a damn good story, and your publisher turns it into an ebook, making it digitally available on the world-wide web. Its the worldwide part that will kill you.  Because some asshat in Bangladesh or Czechoslovakia will buy one copy of your book, then download it illegally on their site.  They will then make it available to a shit-ton of other asshats, who will download it themselves and soon, your book has been downloaded sixteen thousand times and you will never see a penny of the royalty because there wasn't one dime paid of it. Asshats.

So, the following is a very important document for you.  It is called the DMCA Take-Down Notice and it should be sent to every pirate site you find sharing your books.  Under federal law, they then have to remove your book from their site.  I have used this notice, or a version of it, and have even received responses with the asshats apologizing for posting my work without permission.  Not one has ever ignored me.  So far, anyway.  Use this in good health, my writer friends.

SAMPLE DMCA TAKE DOWN NOTICE

My name is INSERT NAME and I am the INSERT TITLE of INSERT COMPANY NAME.  A website that your company hosts (according to WHOIS information) is infringing on at least one copyright owned by me or my company.

The unauthorized and infringing copy can be found at:

PROVIDE WEBSITE URL

This letter is official notification under Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (”DMCA”), and I seek the removal of the aforementioned infringing material from your servers. I request that you immediately notify the infringer of this notice and inform them of their duty to remove the infringing material immediately, and notify them to cease any further posting of infringing material to your server in the future.

Please also be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to remove or disable access to the infringing materials upon receiving this notice. Under US law a service provider, such as yourself, enjoys immunity from a copyright lawsuit provided that you act with deliberate speed to investigate and rectify ongoing copyright infringement. If service providers do not investigate and remove or disable the infringing material this immunity is lost. Therefore, in order for you to remain immune from a copyright infringement action you will need to investigate and ultimately remove or otherwise disable the infringing material from your servers with all due speed should the direct infringer, your client, not comply immediately.

I am providing this notice in good faith and with the reasonable belief that rights me or my company owns are being infringed. Under penalty of perjury I certify that the information contained in the notification is both true and accurate, and I have the authority to act as the owner of the copyright(s) involved.

Should you wish to discuss this with me please contact me directly.

Thank you.

s/YOUR NAME

E-mail

What to do When You are Pirated - Sample DMCA Take-Down Notice

Some author friends of mine joke that you know you have written a winning story when it begins to show up on the pirate site.  I don't laugh.  As of this writing, my debut award-winning YA -paranormal, SPELLBOUND, has been pirated over 14,000 times.  Really.  14,000 times.  That means that if my book sells for the bank-breaking price of $2.99, and I receive 40% of the net proceeds, then roughly $11,000 dollars has been stolen from me.

If you are an author, you have seen many posts and blogs and articles on what can be done.  The truth of the matter is that most of these pirate sites operate outside of the United States and therefore outside of any prosecutorial area.  Additionally, pirating books is not considered a serious crime.  Of course, when music was being pirated, musicians everywhere cried foul and succeeded in shutting down sites and getting teens and twenty-somethings arrested.  And whenever you view a movie rental, the FIRST screen is about the serious repercussions of copying it.  Whatever.  Don't EVEN get me started.

So, what can you do?  Admittedly, not much.  Sorry, it sucks, but it's true.  One thing that has worked reasonably well for me though, is the DMCA Notice.

A DMCA Notice is technically the Digital Millenium Copyright Act notice.  It is sent, either by snail or email, to the administrator of the site offering your material.  I have done it a number of times and been fairly successful.  Usually, my books (yes, plural...they've stolen them all) are removed from the site within 48 hours.  It won't cure the disease, but it will stop the flow of blood.

For your information, I am including one here.  This one is from an awesome site I frequent called EPIC, the Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition.  I highly recommend you go and visit here:  http://epicorg.com/

Sample DMCA Take Down Notice

Send a letter like the following to make your claim:

VIA eMail at ISPHosting[at]isp.com

Re: Copyright Claim

To the ISP Hosting Company:

I am the copyright owner of the eBooks being infringed at:

http://www.freeebooks.com/MyGreatNovel.htm

http://www.freeebooks.com/links.htm

This letter is official notification under the provisions of Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") to effect removal of the above-reported infringements. I request that you immediately issue a cancellation message as specified in RFC 1036 for the specified postings and prevent the infringer, who is identified by its Web address, from posting the infringing material to your servers in the future. Please be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to "expeditiously remove or disable access to" the infringing material upon receiving this notice. Noncompliance may result in a loss of immunity for liability under the DMCA.

I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of here is not authorized by me, the copyright holder, or the law. The information provided here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I swear under penalty of perjury that I am the copyright holder.

Please send me at the address noted below a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.

Sincerely,

/s/ Emily Dickinson

Email: hardworkingauthor[at]mybooks.com

After the ISP receives the notice, it should remove the infringing materials.

Infringements are much too common these days. Fortunately, there are tools to fight them. The DMCA takedown notice is one of the more powerful ones.