Charter Communications and Spinrilla Push Back Against False DMCA Notices
takyon writes:
Charter Countersues Music Companies for Sending Inaccurate DMCA Notices
Internet provider Charter Communications has submitted its answer to the piracy liability lawsuit filed by major record labels. The ISP denies many of the allegations and also strikes back. In a recent filing, it accuses the music companies of violating copyright law by sending DMCA notices for content they don't own.
Last year, several major music companies sued Charter Communications, one of the largest Internet providers in the US with 22 million subscribers. Helped by the RIAA, Capitol Records, Warner Bros, Sony Music, and others accused Charter of deliberately turning a blind eye to its pirating subscribers.
[...] This week Charter replied to the complaint, which was amended in February, denying most of these allegations. In addition, the ISP is countersuing the music companies on two issues. Firstly, Charter requests a declaratory judgment from the court, ruling that it's not contributorily liable for the alleged infringements of its customers. Among other things, it points out that it doesn't host or promote any infringing activity, nor can it detect piracy on its network. Other ISPs have issued similar counterclaims in the past. However, Charter goes a step further by also countersuing the music companies for violating copyright law themselves.
Charter's partial answer to amended complaint.
Mixtape Service Sues RIAA for Sending False Takedown Notices
Popular hip-hop mixtape site and app Spinrilla has sued the RIAA for sending false takedown notices. The company believes that the music group relies on text searches, without properly checking if the content is infringing. The mixtape site informs the court that these faulty notices harm its goodwill and reputation, so is requesting damages in return.
[...] Spinrilla believes that the RIAA is sending takedown requests based on text searches, which results in inaccurate takedown notices. To stop this from happening, the site has filed a lawsuit at a federal court in Georgia, accusing the RIAA of sending false DMCA takedowns.
"Defendant is sending DMCA takedown notices some of which materially misrepresent that audio files uploaded by certain Spinrilla's users infringe sound recordings owned by RIAA's members," Spinrilla writes.
These inaccurate takedown requests harm the goodwill and reputation of the mixtape site, Spinrilla notes. It's a waste of resources and can also result in user accounts being terminated without good cause.
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