Automattic, the owner of the WordPress blogging website, has succeeded in its legal battle regarding the use of false copyright takedown notices, meaning that a precedent has been set for similar cases that cross national boundaries.
One of the two main cases behind Automattic’s decision to enter legal proceedings involves a journalist based in the UK – Oliver Hotham – who published an interview in 2013 with an anti-gay-rights group called Straight Pride UK.
The press officer for Straight Pride UK – Mr Nick Steiner – did not want his organisation’s controversial views to be widely known, which started to become a reality once the article gained attention on social media, and so he therefore requested for the article to be removed.
However, though Mr Hotham refused to delete the article, Straight Pride UK was then able to file a takedown notice with Automattic, which was obliged to remove the interview piece from WordPress.com simply because it was claimed to infringe on rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a US law designed to protect copyright.
As Automattic is not able to verify the copyright of all content added to WordPress, if someone does not like something that exists online they can falsely file a DMCA takedown notice with the content host, which was what happened in this instance.
The company’s decision to legally pursue a fraudulent issue of a DMCA takedown notice is ground-breaking, especially as Automattic is headquartered in the US whereas the other two parties affected by the case are based in the UK.
United States District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton ordered Mr Steiner to pay Mr Hotham (the journalist behind the original article) $960 for work and time wasted, as well as $1,800 to Automattic’s employees, and $22,264 to cover Automattic’s attorney fees.
However, while Mr Steiner is required to pay approximately $25,000 in total damages and court costs, he has so far remained untraceable.