StopPiracy

Mega Upload Policy / Contact Info

Megaupload is an advertiser sponsored site for the upload and sharing of personal files too large to be emailed.  Megaupload has a zero tolerance policy and their Terms of Service, which must be agreed too by users each and every time when uploading file/s, states:

"8. Acceptable Use
You agree to not use Megaupload's Service to:
...c. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party."

"8.4 Copyright or Trademark Infringement
Megaupload Services may be used only for lawful purposes. Transmission, distribution or storage of any material in violation of any applicable law or regulation, including export control laws, is prohibited. This includes, without limitation, material protected by patent, copyright, trademark, service mark, trade secret or other intellectual property rights. If you use another party's material, you must obtain prior authorization. By using the Services, you represent and warrant that you are the author and copyright owner and/or proper licensee with respect to any hosted content and you further represent and warrant that no content violates the trademark or rights of any third party. Megaupload reserves the right to suspend or terminate a Customer's transmission(s) that, in Megaupload's discretion, violates these policies or violates any law or regulation."

"8.6 Other Activities
... Complaints about violators of our Policy should be sent via e-mail to abuse AT Megaupload DOT com. Each complaint will be investigated and may result to immediate cancellation of Services without prior notice."

If you find that your copyrighted digital graphics and kits or those of another designer/s are being shared illegally through Megaupload report it to their Abuse Management Team this will bring up their infringement report form screen.

"Illegal files will be removed immetiately after notice. Furthermore we will add them to our file-filter, so they can't be uploaded again. Just write an e-mail to our abuse management and send us the exact links to the files."

RapidShare Policy / Contact Info

RapidShare have a very short but exactly to the point policy on uploading copyrighted files for sharing :: from their FAQ page:

Which UPLOAD-RULES have to be followed?

* No files that are not allowed to be shared. (illegal, pornographic, copyrighted, etc.)

And from their Contact Information page:

Illegal files will be removed immetiately after notice.  Furthermore we will add them to our file-filter, so they can't be uploaded again. Just write an e-mail to our abuse-management and give the exact links to the files.

Contact them by email:  Abuse Management :: abuse AT rapidshare DOT de

Copyrights in Australia

Through the Australian Government Intellectual Property Office you can find specific information about Intellectual Property rights and Copyright in Australia: IP Australia - Copyrights 

The Australian Copyright Council has an Online Information Centre ~ they have a number of valuable resources and information sheets available for download in .pdf format: Copyright Information Sheets 

An online copy of the consolidated Australian Copyright Legislation is available through the Australasian Legal Information Institute: Australian Copyright Act 1968   The specific sections of the act dealing with the protection of works in electronic format can be found here: Protection of Electronic Works  ~ a bit on the wordy side but definitely worth having a look.
 

Sample of Correctly Written DMCA Notice

Some companies are quite specific in their requirements i.e. Google required that all reports be sent either by post or fax.

Below is a generic sample that should work for most companies, containing all the info generally required. Thanks for Roberta D'Achille for her input . Hope this helps others to speed things up!

________________________________________

Date ........
To .......... (the entity you're posting to i.e. Yahoo!Groups, Google, YouSendIt, Groupers, etc.)

Re: Notice of Copyrights Infringement
(or: DMCA Violation Notice, or something in this line)

I, the undersigned, certify under penalty of perjury that I am the owner of certain intellectual property rights, said owner being named _ (YOUR NAME HERE)_ (“IP Owner”). I have a good faith belief that the distribution of the materials identified below are not authorized by the above IP Owner, its agent, or the law and therefore infringes the IP Owner’s rights. Please act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the material or items claimed to be infringing.

Location of infringing material: (The URL of the files being shared)

Description of infringing material: Digital Graphic Files.
(or Digital Scapbooking Kits, as you see best).

As most companies wouldn't take email attachments for safety reasons, it is advisable to store any proofs such as screen shots of the group showing illegal sharing at a remote host such as PhotoBucket.com and then give this url instead of attaching images with your email report.

Include also references i.e. images or url to your store that shows clearly that you are the rightful designer/owner of the materials being shared.

Description of the copyrighted work(s) you claim is or are infringed:
(Detailed description of the materials - include/refer to the url above if necessary).

I may be contacted at:

Printed Name_.........._

Title & Company_..........._

Street Address_.........._

City and State_........, ........._

Zip_....._

Email (if available)_.........._

Telephone_.........._

Fax_n/a_

Date_.........._

Truthfully,

/YOUR_NAME_AS_SIGNATURE/(notes: the Slash / mark indicates that this is your signature),
YOUR_NAME

Why It’s Not OK To Share Freebies

. . . by Bree Clarkson.

I’ll admit . . . I'm guilty.  When I was brand new to digi scrapping and trying to get my sisters into it, I shared freebies.  That is, until I found out it was considered piracy.  Did you know that even freebies come with Terms Of Use?  I knew it . . . but I never read them!  So I didn’t realize that what I was doing was really copyright infringement.

Designers work as hard on their freebies as they do on the kits they put up in their stores for sale.  Just because a kit is free doesn’t mean that the designer only took a few minutes to make it.  Designers put freebies out there for several different reasons . . . advertising, because they want to, as a thank-you to their customers.  And here are a few reasons why sharing one of those freebies could be harmful to designers:

1- For the most part, freebies are a good way for designers to get people to come to their store and look around.  If customers like what they see at the site, they are more likely to come back.  This not only increases the chances of sales, but also allows visitors to see what a designer has to offer, such as a gallery or forums where they can be inspired.  If the freebies are being hot-linked or shared off-site, the designers have lost the site traffic, and the benefits that come along with it.

2- Many designers have the ability to find out how many times a freebie (or pay kit) has been downloaded from their site.  This helps them know what is popular, what people like or dislike, and helps them make future decisions when designing.  If people are being directed away from the site the original freebie is hosted on, a designer’s information and records aren’t truly correct.

3- I have seen this happen time and time again . . . daily downloads.  Download the pieces one by one and by the end of the week or month, you have a full kit.  So, what’s wrong with sharing the pieces?  Well, designers reserve the right to remove their freebies from their site and do with it what they want.  With the daily downloads, I’ve seen designers either remove it completely from the site, or put it up in the store for sale.  Having the freebies passed around after their completed time frame undermines that right.  Think about it…if you knew you could go to XYZ group and get the kit that designer A is now selling after offering it as a freebie and you missed it . . . would you go buy it?  Likely not.  And that’s why it shouldn’t be shared at all . . . the designer offered it for a limited time only, and they have the right to keep it that way.

So while it might not seem like such a big deal if you share a freebie or two . . . think about how much work went into that little freebie.  It’s a marketing tool, it’s a thank-you to customers, and it’s a gift. 

What do you do if someone asks you about a certain freebie you’ve downloaded and used?  Direct them to the site where you got it of course!  There’s nothing wrong with that!  It’s easy to say “hey . . . check out this site . . . they’ve got some great freebies.”  But it’s not OK to find a pirating ring, join, then illegally upload to a hosting site to share with others.  Any kits/elements you download should be downloaded ONLY from the original designer or a site she is affiliated with – if not, it is pirated!!! 

In my experience (which is a lot, lol…I’ve been digi scrapping with everyone else’s creations for well over a year), designers are some of THE nicest people around.  Don’t forget to send them an email when you download a freebie that you really like, and say thanks!  Then spread the word, and direct people to the site where they can find those freebies.

Now, let’s get back to scrapping, and using up some of those digi supplies!  Thanks for reading this article, and I hope that it’s helped you understand why we shouldn’t be sharing freebies!

No Piracy Blinkies

You may post these blinkies on your blog or use them in your siggie line.  You don't have to "give credit," but you should know where you got them and who made them, in case someone asks about them later.  You may not claim them as your own.

blinkie by Amy Teets(C)2005

from Amy: "Snag away!  Get the word out!"

blinkie by kimlizzy (C) 2005

from kimlizzy: "Anyone is welcome to use it as long as they 'right click and save' and not direct link."

Ebay policy / contact info

I know that in the past, people have illegally redistributed the works of digital designers over Ebay.  I haven't heard anything recently about it, so maybe people are realizing the it is, indeed, illegal (umm, and STUPID).  But just in case someone else starts being stupid, here is the Ebay policy and procedural information.

Protecting Intellectual Property:
"eBay is committed to protecting the intellectual property rights of third parties and to providing its users with a safe place to trade. eBay created the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program so intellectual property owners could easily report listings that infringe their rights."  Read more on ebay's Protecting Intellectual Property page.

Grouper policy/contact info

Grouper is SUPPOSED to be a way to share PERSONAL files with friends and family.  I'm told, though, that grouper is being abused by some as a way to illegially distribute the work of digital designers.  If you go to the "Directory" you can do a search for "Scrapbook" or "Scrapbooking" and see what groups come up.  I'm sure as word spreads they will get more sneaky about labelling their groups and allowing access inside for viewing.

In their Terms of Service page, Grouper states "Grouper respects the intellectual property rights of others. Accordingly, Grouper has a policy of terminating in appropriate circumstances the account of any user of the Grouper Network who uses the Grouper Network in violation of copyright law. Pursuant to Title 17 of the United States Code, Section 512, Grouper has implemented procedures for receiving written notification of claimed copyright infringement and for processing such claims in accordance with such law. If you believe your copyright is being infringed by a user of the Grouper Network, please fill out a Notice of Infringement Form and fax or mail it . . ."

So if you can get in and get proof that it is happening, go to the Terms of Service page to report it.  You can also click on the "Report Group" link to the right of a group's listing when you are viewing it.

U.S. Copyright Office

Have you seen this site? http://www.copyright.gov/

It has a LOT of useful copyright information -- straight from the U.S. Government!

Of particular interest are the links in the FAQ section under "Copyright and Digital Files."  There is a link that says "Is it legal to download works from peer-to-peer networks and if not, what is the penalty..." -- go check it out!!!!

Notifying Yahoo

This information copied from http://docs.yahoo.com/info/copyright/copyright.html

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Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy

"Yahoo! respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. Yahoo! has no responsibility for content on other web sites that you may find or access when using Yahoo!’s products or services. Material available on or through other web sites may be protected by copyright and the intellectual property laws of the United States and/or other countries. The terms of use of those web sites, and not the Yahoo! Terms of Service, govern your use of that material.

It is Yahoo!’s policy, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who may infringe or repeatedly infringe the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of Yahoo! and/or others."

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Please click on the link above to read more about contacting Yahoo if you suspect a Yahoo group is distributing your work.