I got a email from godaddy saying We have received notification of copyright infringement(s) taking place on your site DCCARTOONS(dot)COM. It has come to our attention that the website found at this domain name contains material being displayed without the consent of the owner/copyright holder. They suspended my hosting and my domain. What can i do to get it back? Do i have to change my domain name?
It seemed to be they are targeting at the material inside your web site, you may want to email them to clarify as to what materials infringed upon the copyrights of others, just tell them that you are removing them and ask them for access.
On my site i have episodes of the shows but they are hosted on other sites such as youtube and stage6. Can i just post a disclaimer and be all right?
You were posting cartoons that you didn't own. You need express permission to do that. Forget about a new domain, you need different content. It's also a violation of google's adsense policy to display unauthorized copyrighted material. If they reported you to google, your account could be banned with all funds being lost. You could also be sued for what you did. You should research copyright infringement and also trademark infringement before you think of starting another site.
There is some argument over this, but do you want to hire a lawyer to fight this case and even if you win, you end up with massive legal fees or just removed them? I mean this is all up to you.
Just because others are doing something illegal, it doesn't make it ok. "Also, keep in mind that publishers may not place AdSense ads on pages involved in the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials. Unauthorized copyrighted materials include music, movies, images, or any other copyrighted material that the publisher does not own or license from the copyright owner." Adsense also has a policy on placing adsense on sites embedding videos from youtube. "What kinds of commercial uses of the youtube website are prohibited, and which aren't? "We've recently updated our Terms of Use to clarify what kinds of uses of the website and the youtube Embeddable Player are permitted. We don't want to discourage you from putting the occasional youtube video in your blog to comment on it or show your readers a video you like, even if you have general purpose ads somewhere on your blog. We will, however, enforce our Terms of Use against, say, a website that does nothing more than aggregate a bunch of embedded youtube videos and intentionally tries to generate ad revenue from them. "
I dont have ads on the youtube videos. So pretty much i have to shut down the site. Can i sell it or something.
Why don't you change the content a bit, you do not need others' content, original content is best for any web sites.
Someone has filed a DMCA complaint against you. The host is required to take down your site until you remove all the copyrighted content. Saying you only link to the content isn't going to get you off the hook. You could move the domain to another host, but if you put copyrighted content back on the site, you're going to have the same problem. If they also filed with Google Adsense, you are going to be hearing from them - but it can take several weeks for that to happen. Taking down the content doesn't get you off the hook. Since your site was "commercial" (ran adsense) you could be sued for all the income the site ever generated, plus damages. Copyright infringement can also be a criminal charge - people have gone to prison for years in extreme cases. It is unlikely that the copyright holder will take action against you (but possible) if you don't put the site back up. If you continue to infringe upon their material, there is a good chance they would sue you. I don't know what godaddy's policy is on infringement. You need to contact them directly. Some hosts will require you to move the domain to another host as they don't want any legal action. Even youtube is required to take down copyrighted material. Youtube doesn't post the content, whereas you are an active participant because you are embedding the link on your site. Continuing to do it is asking for problems - and using the same domain wouldn't be smart as they will continue to check it for infringing content. No one can help you with Godaddy. You need to do it yourself.
There is certainly a potential trademark issue with the domain name (especially considering the site content), but a trademark dispute wouldn't be handled with the host in a DMCA complaint. They would contact the domain owner directly or file a WIPO action.
I also got this from warner bros. Unauthorized Use of Warner Bros.’ Property Dear GoDaddy.com Inc., I, the undersigned, CERTIFY UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY that I am the owner , or an agent authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of certain intellectual property rights, said owner being Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and our affiliated company DC Comics (collectively, "Warner Bros."). Warner Bros. is the owner of trademark, copyright, exclusive distribution and/or other intellectual property rights in and to the television series The Batman and Superman and in the images of The Batman and Superman cartoon characters (collectively, the "Batman and Superman Properties"). Because of these rights, no one is authorized to manufacture, perform, distribute, copy, sell and/or offer for sale products utilizing The Batman and Superman Properties without the express written permission of Warner Bros. It has recently come to our attention that the website located at: dccartoons is performing and distributing videos from The Batman and Superman animated television series and has copied and posted numerous images of the Batman and Superman cartoon characters. I have a good faith belief that such content is not authorized by Warner Bros., its agent, or the law and therefore infringes Warner Bros.’ rights in the Batman and Superman Properties. Accordingly, please act expeditiously to remove the infringing content from the website, and if necessary to do so, disable access to the above-referenced website. Please confirm that you have taken the appropriate action at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter and please advise should you have any questions or require any additional information. This letter is not a complete statement of Warner Bros.’ rights in connection with this matter, and nothing contained herein constitutes an express or implied waiver of any rights, remedies, or defenses of Warner Bros. in connection with this matter, all of which are expressly reserved. Sincerely, Michael Bentkover Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Well, you're dealing directly with the copyright and trademark holder - one that has law firms on retainer and in-house counsel. Not only did you use their content without their consent, you registered a domain which is similar to their trademark (which is probably why you put DC in it). As they stated, even removing the content does not get you off the hook. They could sue you and you could be forced to pay very large damages and up to treble their legal fees. You can certainly do what you want, but you should forget about operating a site like this... one that profits (runs advertising) off of someone else's intellectual property. I would abandon the domain name. No disclaimer is going to help you in this situation, and saying other people are doing it isn't a legal defense i.e. lots of people rob banks, but that doesn't make it legal. I don't know how aggressive Warner Bros is, but if you had infringed on a company like Mattel, I would say there was a 99.9% chance they would be suing you. Most companies aren't that aggressive unless they are dealing with a repeat offender. Forget about the site, and you probably won't hear from them. You also don't want to lose your adsense account, because they don't give second chances.
Well that sucks, but i guess ill have to shut it down. Thanks for all your help mjewel. Do you want the 25k views for one of your videos on youtube?
Remove everything on your web site, write a very nice email telling them you have done so, apologize and keep all correspondence. I doubt they would take more action, they are more into those that distribute the contents for illegal gains.