Sue google? For blantantly ignoring the obvious?

[philgames]

Hello,

I am getting quite angry at the moment not because google updates which many complain about... why i am angry is that google has blatantly ignored a dmca request i made where it was so obvious that if they even bothered to read the request rather than pres the reject button it would be quite clear that i am in the right....... What so annoying is that it looks as though i am now getting penalized for duplicate content or something when it is mine.. ie the content shows up on both there blogspot and main website where they ripped and published the articles on and mine is nowhere to be seen when search for extracts.....

Why is it so obvious because they have ripped so much content where the posts and dates dont add up...... ie they post this month i posted months ago..... but thats not it...... they rip articles where it has my website name in it........ for example rip the homepage and on the very first sentence

Hello wlecome to ***** insert my website here****

It is quite obvious that google is run by complete morons. I pointed out that the article has my website name in it.........

------who can i sue? what can i do?

The rippers are a bunch of Chinese people..... copying many other people content too..... i have emailed them and they ignore me..... i email the host in china they ignore me.... How can i sue them in china? Can i sue google too!

***the way google just simply rejects legitimate claims is so evil with just the simple auto replies...

 

[philgames]

Sorry i didnt see the legal section

 

[Nuno]

It is quite obvious that google is run by complete morons

It isn't obvious. Google has an amazing amount of extremely clever people working for it:

"It really does not matter who you are and what you have done before. You could be the greatest at your own field, I assure you in your meetings and as you walk around you'll see and work with people who you think are genius."
Link

Perhaps if you took the trouble to write clearly and cogently you might make a better case for yourself when communicating with Google, and they in turn may respond more as you wish.

 

[ThomasBuckland]

You can sue google, that's like trying to sue God!

 

[directmarketingadvice]

It is quite obvious that google is run by complete morons.

Do you have any idea how many websites Google have indexed?

Could it be that they have limited resources and spending those resources on your tiny little website would be a poor use of such resources?

Steve

 

[MASSEY]

If it bothers you that much contact the hosting company where the copyright content is hosted and they should act because they are complicit in the copyright by hosting it.

I wouldn't get too angry, the whole internet is full of people ripping and re-publishing. It shouldn't be causing your site a penalisation.

 

[philgames]

I have already contacted the Chinese host without answer.... they are selling the same products as i am which annoys me too. wouldnt mind if it wasnt a competitor. plus google maybe big but google cannot ignore the law....

 

[TotallySport]

copyright law doesn't exist in China so your not going to get anywhere fast.

 

[JonathanSEO]

Use Tynt and then you at least might get some links.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

copyright law doesn't exist in China so your not going to get anywhere fast.

But it does in the US and Google is a US company and is breaching European Union copyright laws by aiding in the illegal distribution of copyrighted material (hence the point of a DMCA system).

I have to ask the OP though, what EXACTLY did Google say? It is all well and good ranting ona forum, but how about filling in the blanks to allow us to actually comment? Failing that we can just move this to time out

 

[Subbynet]

Google have offices in the UK, directly offering their services to UK citizens, and as such are subject to UK law, so ultimately, you can take them to a UK court. If I was you I'd write, on paper, put it in an envelope, and post it to Google UK by registered mail. For £1.70 that it costs, its worth a shot.

That way, they have to sign for it, and you can then prove you've given them notice.

Google UK Ltd
123 Buckingham Palace Road
London SW1W 9SH
United Kingdom

 

[HandmadeLondon]

Unfortunately companies like Google are "above the law" in most cases.

If they have gotten away with not paying Capital gains tax or the correct amount to the UK government then they will get away with the copyright infringement of your content.

This is unfortunately a waste of your time and energy in taking legal action against them.

 

[philgames]

What i said in the dmca notice was on the lines of

"the infringing copyrighted content can be found on the following url, the website in question did not get permission to use my article. Evidence to show that i am the original copyright owner is that the google index found and indexed mine months ago... not only that but it is quite clear that i am the original copyright holder because the article has my own website name in the first sentence of the article too.. "welcome to insert website name here"."

You are all probably right that i wont be able to do anything... even though its probably googles fault that it was scraped and republished in the first place
Well its not good when plutocrats from America can come to England and do what they want.

 

[TotallySport]

But it does in the US and Google is a US company and is breaching European Union copyright laws by aiding in the illegal distribution of copyrighted material (hence the point of a DMCA system).

I have to ask the OP though, what EXACTLY did Google say? It is all well and good ranting ona forum, but how about filling in the blanks to allow us to actually comment? Failing that we can just move this to time out

But google haven't copied the information, they just show a list.

Plus google list a hell of alot worse content than copyright infrigenment, and no one has ever actually held google to account, so I doubt they will be bother about 1 issue from a small issue in the UK

 

[OldWelshGuy]

But google haven't copied the information, they just show a list.

Plus google list a hell of alot worse content than copyright infrigenment, and no one has ever actually held google to account, so I doubt they will be bother about 1 issue from a small issue in the UK

Which makes them equally culpable in law as they are distributing the illegal material. The DMCA gives search engines a 'Safe harbour' (legal term) with regard distribution of said breached material PROVIDED they coply with any DMCA request. It would be argued here that google are NON-COMPLIANT as the Op has proven the breach (his own hard coded links and original company name is in the ctolen content) so thus he does have grounds to sue Google. Have a read.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/512#512.d

ALSO (and this is crucial) google DOES publish this material as there is a PUBLIC cached copy of every page available, thus making THEM in breach of copyright. (this is somethign many fail to point out).

 

[Esk247]

Would it be in the interest for the OP to attempt to sue Google though?

I imagine that it won't even register on Googles Court-Appearance-O-Meter

Should the OP just not continue to report the infringement until someone at the behemoth notices and clicks a few buttons?

 

[Nuno]

Which makes them equally culpable in law as they are distributing the illegal material. The DMCA gives search engines a 'Safe harbour' (legal term) with regard distribution of said breached material PROVIDED they coply with any DMCA request. It would be argued here that google are NON-COMPLIANT as the Op has proven the breach (his own hard coded links and original company name is in the ctolen content) so thus he does have grounds to sue Google. Have a read.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/512#512.d

ALSO (and this is crucial) google DOES publish this material as there is a PUBLIC cached copy of every page available, thus making THEM in breach of copyright. (this is somethign many fail to point out).

OWG, can you clear up some points please?

As you know the DCMA and 'Safe harbour' are USA legislation which doesn't apply in the UK. What is the EU (or UK) legislation which enforces takedown at ISP level?
The Digital Economy Act deals with copyright theft by multiple download not copy and paste usage, and as far as I know you need a court order to enforce a breach of copyright, under existing legislation.

Does the OP have a legal case without going to court?

(The expense of going to court in the UK, let alone in China would probably be prohibitive anyway, so after venting the OP might use his energies trying to turn this into a positive.)

 

[alex richardson]

Whilst I understand the frustration that the op is going through right now. Have you actually considered rewriting your content?

This would give you the chance to rewrite with user experience and conversions in mind, as well as remove the duplicate continent issue?

I know that you shouldn't have to, although sometimes it easier to just drop it, rewrite and spend the time focusing on your business.

I would also put a canonical tag in your content incase they scrape it again because if its scraped by a program, then the canonical will reference your site as the originator of the content and not penalise you.

 

[JonathanSEO]

Much ado about nothing this though. Content gets stolen on a daily basis. I've had infographics stolen and the logos cropped off the bottom lol.

Like I said use Tynt or if you think they are scraping your RSS feed insert links to the bottom saying this article was originally published on yoursite.com. They can strip it out but if it's automated they probably won't do.

Anyway, it won't hurt your site. How do lyric websites rank?

Only annoying thing would be is if they are outranking you for your blog posts.

 

[MASSEY]

I have seen cases where the RSS feed gets indexed and outranks the main content but usually when the site it was fed from gets crawled it overtakes the scraper. That's what usually happens.

I would guess the op's site is showing nowhere when he searches is because he might not have been indexed yet? Or his site lacks any quality inbound links?

 

[JonathanSEO]

I have seen cases where the RSS feed gets indexed and outranks the main content but usually when the site it was fed from gets crawled it overtakes the scraper. That's what usually happens.

I would guess the op's site is showing nowhere when he searches is because he might not have been indexed yet? Or his site lacks any quality inbound links?

Google sucks at not ranking scraper sites:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=How+to+Be+a+Badass+Link+Builder

Usually can get the original in first place but not always.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

OWG, can you clear up some points please?

As you know the DCMA and 'Safe harbour' are USA legislation which doesn't apply in the UK. What is the EU (or UK) legislation which enforces takedown at ISP level?
The Digital Economy Act deals with copyright theft by multiple download not copy and paste usage, and as far as I know you need a court order to enforce a breach of copyright, under existing legislation.

Does the OP have a legal case without going to court?

(The expense of going to court in the UK, let alone in China would probably be prohibitive anyway, so after venting the OP might use his energies trying to turn this into a positive.)

The Berne Convention covers this, and the broader laws are covered here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_European_Union .

Personally I would be looking to get my local MP involved. Google are trampling over the law on a daily basis now, their behaviour has gone from neglegent to out and out illegal, and on a constant basis. They need to be brought to heel within Europe, or prevented from operating. They pay no tax in the UK anyhow, so what do we have to lose?

 

[philgames]

Google is just spamming my inbox with automated messages

"Hello,

Thanks for reaching out to us.



We have received your DMCA notice. It is unclear to us whether or not you are the authorized copyright agent for the content in question. Only the copyright owner or an authorized representative can file a DMCA Infringement Notice on his/her behalf. Please note that you will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing your copyrights.

If you or your client is not the copyright owner for this content, we can not process your notice. Please have the copyright owner file a DMCA notice with us. If you or your client is the copyright owner, please provide more detail explaining how this is the case.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
"

I keep on pointing out the obvious.....

I wonder if mps in the uk would do anything because they arent probabaly tech minded and the problem is normal people dont know how evil google is because they do not deal with them and do not see what we see....

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Google is just spamming my inbox with automated messages

"Hello,

Thanks for reaching out to us.



We have received your DMCA notice. It is unclear to us whether or not you are the authorized copyright agent for the content in question. Only the copyright owner or an authorized representative can file a DMCA Infringement Notice on his/her behalf. Please note that you will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing your copyrights.

If you or your client is not the copyright owner for this content, we can not process your notice. Please have the copyright owner file a DMCA notice with us. If you or your client is the copyright owner, please provide more detail explaining how this is the case.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
"

I keep on pointing out the obvious.....

I wonder if mps in the uk would do anything because they arent probabaly tech minded and the problem is normal people dont know how evil google is because they do not deal with them and do not see what we see....

Why are they stating that bit I bolded? Have you clearly stated that you are the copyright owner? Why are they questioning this?

 

[philgames]

I clearly stated i am the copyright owner and that the website in question is publishing my content without my permission (you even have to declare all this when you submit the form) libel libel libel libel......... im really starting to question whether google is reading the dmca notices at all...it looks as though one person is dealing with all my dmca requests as i just get a whole load of bulk emails from them at once....

"For the URL you've provided, please identify the exact content that you claim infringes upon your copyright. Once we have received this information, we will be able to continue our investigation."

This one was sent for the dmca with a article that started with "Here at *insert my website name here**......"

 

[Nuno]

Would it not be better to reply with information even if you have already submitted it?
Try and make it clearer; as you think "Google is run by complete morons" write it in clear, unambiguous language which anyone can understand.

A large amount of DCMA requests are malicious and made in bad faith so Google has to check. If no checks were made the Chinese site that stole your content might claim it is theirs and ask for a DCMA on your site.

 

[philgames]

Yeah probably would be a good idea if google hadn't just bulk emailed me the same messages and not specifying which dmca notice is which... lol i have no idea what notice i am replying to because all the emails all 15 of them are all the same lol

 

[Subbynet]

A large amount of DCMA requests are malicious and made in bad faith so Google has to check. If no checks were made the Chinese site that stole your content might claim it is theirs and ask for a DCMA on your site.

They don't make checks to verify ownership. In fact the DMCA requires you to remove the item based solely on the claim. If you happen to read the Slashdot.org website you'll read about these on a weekly basis.

The onus is on the submitter to give a valid declaration, and if this proves false, there are meant to be perjury penalties, but these are taken as civil cases - so cost a lot to enforce. Large companies are always being caught out giving false declarations, mainly because they often use automated means to submit these claims.

Google to me are denying this request on legal formalities, rather than the actual merit of the case, so you need to give them formal notice with all the prerequisites that it must contain. The cheeky part here is Google are not telling you where you're going wrong, and hence, makes it easier for them to ignore it.

If I was you I'd do a duckduckgo search and find out how to send a formal DMCA notice, with all the information it must contain for it to be a valid request.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but it sounds to me like you have failed top comply fully with the DMCA request. you have to be PINPOINT specific as this is a legal requirement and Google will ONLY act on FULLY compliant DMCA's

 

[Vectis]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but it sounds to me like you have failed top comply fully with the DMCA request. you have to be PINPOINT specific as this is a legal requirement and Google will ONLY act on FULLY compliant DMCA's

I'd say you're probably right about this, if the postings on here are anything to go by.

I hope the OP is a lot clearer in his writings to Google. If not, then there's the problem.