Hi all. On my site there is a upload section, and it allows users to upload differnt files. Im worried about them uploading copyright stuff - like copyright images or ringtones (my site is a mobile phone / funny videos site) I've added the option to "report this item" -- and if anyone reports it, i'll remove it. But is this enough? How do say, the big free storage companies get away with holding copyright material before its reported? such as photobucket, xdrive and the like. Do the powers that be, give you a warning to remove stuff off your site, or do they just take you to court? Any advice would be great. Regards.
It comes down to the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act). Look at some of the large file hosts out there and they will have a DMCA Takedown policy. Here's the one for YouSendIt: http://www.yousendit.com/dmca.aspx Basically you need to have a system in place where copyright owners can report copyright infringements and stake their claim to the works in question. From there you either take it straight down, or as most others do, give the uploader the chance to state their case regarding the file that was uploaded.If the complaint is upheld the file must be removed. You can't be held responsible for what other people upload.... but you're legally vulnerable if you do not act upon reports of copyright infringement that are justified. If you read through the YouSendIT DMCA policy you'll get the idea of what I mean as it is very thorough. Whilst a "report it" link may end up with the same result of a file being taken down,I would recommend you adopt a system of a similar standard to the larger file hosts. At the very least it shows you are taking copyright infringement seriously and states your position on the matter to both copyright owners and potential infringers. Hope this helps
yeah its enough look ar rapidshare.de they are in top100 sites in world, they have no problems even tho all sorts of things are uploaded there
Thanks guys. So i just need to put in my T&C, that my site takes copyright very seriously, and at the side of each file listed, have a button that says "REPORT THIS" - which links to the T&C about copyright, and has a form the person can fill in to remove the item. I'll add this asap. Many thanks for the help. Regards.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 states: "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. " I do not know if that applies to you, but it may be worth researching.