I am almost certain the DMCA take-down request was at least semi-automated via tag searches on youtube and rubber stamped by one of their employees. You can see this yourself by submitting a video with tags that contain artists they have on contract.
I am also almost certain that MegaUpload understood this, and their video was specifically engineered to trigger these bots....
They can't just use a bot to DMCA stuff, they have to have a lawyer sign off on it. Granted, in practice, I think they pretty much rubber stamp it, but the law says that they're supposed to be acting in good faith. If they're not, well, they have nobody but themselves to blame. I mean, how can they expect YouTube or the government to police their stuff if even they can't get it right?
Copyright infringement hinges on permission. If even they don't know who has their permission to do what, nor even what they actually own, it seems ludicrous to suggest that the government or other companies should be expected to know.
If they're confused here, it's because they thought they owned these people, only to find out that they do not.
Oops, you're right. You do still have to make that statement under penalty of perjury that has never, to my knowledge, been enforced, about representing the rightsholder and having a good faith belief that something is infringing.
Sorry my statement was so terse. After getting some much needed sleep and rereading it, I most certainly could have written it better/nicer.
Bogus DMCA take-down requests from unknown/anonymous/incorrect entities are actually a significant problem. It would be nice if you were right and only lawyers could send such requests (and risk being disbarred for intentionally misrepresenting facts). Sadly, any anonymous nut-job can send DMCA take-down requests for any reason, and like spam, they can get away with it. I've seen no cases where the stated "penalty of perjury" has actually been prosecuted.
Right, and you cant just robo-sign foreclosure paperwork either. Until the justice department starts doing their job of enforcing the penalties both ways the system will continue to collapse.
Yeah, but I would like to hear about the back and forth with MegaUpload 'demanding" that this be put back up ... so what happened? Were they met with HUMAN opposition?
A bot that would repeatedly issue notices against the same material would not be one I would be legally confident in, if I were in Universal's shoes. After all, if the material comes back after the first take-down, it means that someone has made a legally binding declaration that the original claim was mistaken. If it did end up in front of a judge, I can't see a blind repetition having helped Universal's case.
I am also almost certain that MegaUpload understood this, and their video was specifically engineered to trigger these bots....