Hotfile countersues Warner Bros. over copyright abuse

By Mike Flacy Published September 13, 2011

Illegal Downloading — Image used with permission by copyright holder

In 2009, Hotfile provided Warner Brothers with a tool that allowed the studio to expedite the Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown procedure by allowing removal of any offending file immediately. Rather than hire a team of people to police video uploaded to Hotfile, Warner Brothers used automated crawlers to submit takedown notices based off keywords. For instance, if the program was searching for “Sherlock Holmes” to remove any instance of the 2009 Robert Downey Jr. film, it would also submit takedown notices for audiobooks of Sherlock Holmes. Movie titles with common names were even more problematic and submitted thousands of automated takedown notices for content that Warner Brothers didn’t own. In addition to identifying the titles, the tool also deleted the content immediately from Hotfile’s servers.

Hotfile claims that warnings were issued to Warner Brothers about abusing the tool, but no measures were taken to alter the speed and inaccuracy of the takedown notices. When a DMCA takedown request is filed by any company, that creates a binding legal claim that the company has been authorized to remove the content, assuming it’s not owned by the company. Warner Brothers potentially faces a massive amount of perjury penalties for misrepresenting the authorization to take down content. This also puts Warner Brothers in the position of being liable for any financial damages due to suffering from the invalid DMCA takedown requests.

Recommended Videos

While Warner Brothers could potentially contact victims of the invalid DMCA takedown requests, the company deleted a variety of free content uploaded to Hotfile intentionally by various types of artists. Hotfile could use this position as leverage against the impending lawsuit drawn up by Warner Brothers, but Hotfile would still face litigation from three other Hollywood studios for DMCA violations including 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios and Columbia Pictures.

Topics

Apple

Contributing Editor

By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…

Mobile

PayPal vs. Venmo vs. Cash App vs. Apple Cash: which app should you use?

PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, and Apple Wallet apps on an iPhone.

We’re getting closer every day to an entirely cashless society. While some folks may still carry around a few bucks for emergencies, electronic payments are accepted nearly everywhere, and as mobile wallets expand, even traditional credit and debit cards are starting to fall by the wayside.

That means many of us are past the days of tossing a few bills onto the table to pay our share of a restaurant tab or slipping our pal a couple of bucks to help them out. Now, even those things are more easily doable from our smartphones than our physical wallets.

Computing

How to change margins in Google Docs

Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Computing

What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app

A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.