Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Cloudflare Sued for Failing to Terminate Repeat Infringers
In a new complaint filed at a California federal court, Cloudflare stands accused of contributing to, aiding, and abetting copyright infringements. The company fails to terminate customers who are repeatedly called out and is therefore liable, the argument goes. The case in question was not filed by Hollywood or the major record labels, but by two manufacturers of wedding dresses.
[...] In 2016 Cloudflare was sued for contributory copyright infringement by adult publisher ALS Scan. This case ended in a confidential settlement this summer, but now there's more trouble on the horizon for the company.
The new threat doesn't come from any of the major entertainment industry players, but from two manufacturers and wholesalers of wedding dresses. Not a typical "piracy" lawsuit, but it's a copyright case that could have broad effects. In a complaint filed at a federal court in California, Mon Cheri Bridals and Maggie Sottero Designs argue that Cloudflare fails to terminate sites of counterfeit vendors after multiple warnings. This makes Cloudflare liable for the associated copyright infringements, they add.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday November 24 2018, @05:33AM
I friend of mine operates a data center. It's not specifically a web hosting service, rather he supplies servers and VPSes, so his customers have root on their boxes, however most of them really do serve websites.
Some of his customers were flogging counterfeit shoes from their sites. What he called "The Shoe Police" threatened to come down really hard on my friend, who only has I think for employees and who lives in a very modest way.
So he simply terminated service for all those shoe sites.
Really it can be argued that my friend did not do the right thing, that the most that The Shoe Police could legitimately do is file DMCA Notices for the _images_ of the imitation shoes, but for him to have required him to actually respond that way would result in "Our Legal Firm Can Beat Up Your Lawyer".
I don't see a solution to this problem. If you can come up with a way for those with modest incomes to defend themselves against an entire high-power legal firm I beg of you to post it.
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