FYI Today I got a call from the Myspace Abuse Department. The guy's name was Jason. He said one of my sites (bulletintrader.com) was violating Myspace Abuse policy. He said it is illegal to buy/sell/trader bulletins and that I had 24 hours to remove my site or they will take legal action. I mentioned that there are many other forums that get 100s of thousands of visitors a day that people buy and sell bulletins on, and he said they are going after them too. Along with anyone using Myspace in the domain or title of their website. Be on the look out. I removed my site just in case.
Heh - then they win - no legal action necessary It's not uncommon for sites like MySpace or Ebay to bluster about what they will do, but generally they don't. It's usually enough just to snort and paw the ground with their hooves. Maybe they have legal grounds & there is a real danger of penalty....maybe not - I guess you can always be 'better safe than sorry'
My site got made 20 uniques/day and it was a forum. No one had even posted on it in more than a week. Don't know why they went after me when there are much larger problems.
seriously thats ridiculous when theirs places like snf that are huge for myspace bulettin industry. im glad im not one of the tons with myspace in their title, sucks for them honestly.
Maybe this Jason guy is just getting himself warmed up (or maybe it was a friend playing a practical joke a or competitor just bluffing you
What are the laws behind that, i've read many post about having myspace in your domain name. But you can't even have it in your meta or body text either?
The only reason that they would send a C&D / takedown request is because they have to show they are trying to protect their trademark, if they dont do that they can be in danger of losing it. I say call the bluff.
I thought it was just someone f'in around. but the phone number is from an area code in Santa Monica, CA. And I know myspace is in Cali. If anyone wants to call this Jason kid and interrogate him, be my guess. Let me know what happens.
Telling this guy to "call their bluff" is incredibly stupid advice. The website in question (bulletintrader.com) was most likely violating the Myspace terms and conditions (I say "most likely", because I have not seen the site). MySpace has millions of dollars to blow on legal action and I'm sure they have some pretty decent lawyers. Unless you feel 100% confident that you were not doing anything wrong and you have the balls, money and lawyers to prove it in court, I would suggest to do as they request. Buying and selling Myspace bulletins is just a new way to spam people, which sucks anyways.
Which is why you ought to take time to read and understand it before using their services. If you don't like it, don't use them. If you're up to it, contact myspace about it. I believe there's a saying that goes like "trust...but verify." And of course, try to stay out of trouble.
the fact is did they call you ? or some of your competitor call you to reduce his/her competition. have you verified # number ?
They did call me. And I have no idea how to verify whether he is legit or not. When I called back that phone number a few hours later the guy said "Myspace Abuse, this is Jason".
My understanding is that a site's TOS are not legally enforcable. They can ban you from the site but not sue you, you are not breaking any laws. In this case in my opinion they can not even accuse him that the site was breaking the TOS, only actual physical persons can break the TOS of a site (or bots). Disclaimer:This is just my opinion, I am not a lawyer
man thank god I stayed away from the myspace fad I think it was smart that you pulled down your site and do keep us updated on what happens with you.