Help with DMCA Counter Notice. What is This?!?

1. 63

   CYong74posted 4 years ago

   I recently found the entirety of one of my hubs, including images, reposted on Quora as an answer.
   
   After submitting a DMCA claim, the author of that answer filed a counter claim. His arguments are:
   
   - He posted the link to my hub before the duplicate content.
   - Tens of thousands of Quora members do this regularly
   - He used italics when reposting my text to indicate it was not original to him.
   
   Quora is now telling me to "filed an action against the party that provided the counter notification to restrain that party's allegedly infringing activity by June 22nd. See 17 USC 512(g)(2)." Otherwise, it will reinstate the content.
   
   This is all new to me, and the legalese used by Quora is baffling, to say the least. What should I do? Could anyone help?

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      chef-de-jourposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Never dealt with Quora but surely the basic fact that you own the copyright and can date and prove it should prevail?
      
      '...file an action against the party that provided the counter notification....'
      
      Not sure what this action should be...you ought to check out the 17 USC 512 (g)(2) and make sure you read the small print.
      
      If no joy that route send another DMCA...and hope Google can help?

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2. 77

   theraggededgeposted 4 years ago

   That's awful. I've never had a problem with Quora.
   
   I don't know the answer - have you tried searching?

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3. 63

   CYong74posted 4 years ago

   I've searched and found a ton of legalese. None of which I understand.
   
   Quora is now also telling me to file something. What on Earth is that? Am I to start an American courtcase?
   
   Anyway, the person who duplicated the content is saying he has the right to do it, since everyone on Quora does it, and he attributed with a link.
   
   I've written in to the Team. i hope they respond. This is awful.

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4. 63

   CYong74posted 4 years ago

   Oh! Here's what Quora says!
   
   "If you receive a notice that a posting or portion of Your Content has been removed or suspended due to a copyright complaint, that means that we removed it at the request of a content owner. If you believe the material was removed in error, you have the option to file a DMCA counter-notification (the proper format for such counter-notice is defined below). When we receive a proper counter-notification, we will forward it to the party who originally complained about the alleged copyright violation. If we do not receive a notice from the original complainant within 10 business days, stating that the original complainant is seeking a court order to prevent further infringement of the content at issue, we will clear the complaint from your account’s record, and, at our discretion, we may replace the content that was removed."
   
   I read this as, I have to start a court order to permanently effect the removal.

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   1. 0

      Marisa Writesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      No, you  have to tell Quora you are going to seek a court order. Doesn't mean you have to do it.

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5. 77

   theraggededgeposted 4 years ago

   I would let them reinstate it. Then submit another DMCA, ad infinitum.
   
   I would also leave regular replies to the post, stating that it's been used without permission.

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6. 63

   CYong74posted 4 years ago

   I will do the first thing as a last resort. I have written in to challenge Quora's policy, and for entertaining this absurd counter-claim.
   
   The second suggestion, I'm not too sure. There are tens of thousands of plagiarists on Quora. I don't think I can handle a siege from them.

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   1. 100

      DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      There has been a real plague of plagiarism on Quora since the lockdown started and so many people are at home. That does not make it right, and I report all of them that enter my feed. The moderators there sometimes act on it but do not seem very concerned about it.
      I think you should follow Bev´s suggestion and as soon as it shows up again just file another DCMA against it. (If you leave a comment on the post, the plagairist can go in and delete it so that is not really a useful way to spend your time.)

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      1. 78

         lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         I fear that their system will show that the person filed a counter-notice and just sending in new ones every time will be pointless as they may just be ignored.
         
         I would just file a DMCA with Google so that the post does not show on search as the legal route would be a pain.

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            DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, I agree. At least if Google deindexes the other post so it no longer shows up in search results CYong will not lose any paqe views to the plagirist.

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               lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               Yup, and even though it's bad that content was copied, the link that is on the copied article may actually get some people coming over? Just trying to see the silver lining here.

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7. 63

   CYong74posted 4 years ago

   The situation is truly awful, and very insulting.
   
   I've written in a second time to Quora, highlighting that their own DMCA policy states that one must be the copyright owner to file a counter claim. I stated it's preposterous they even entertain this counter claim in my case, when the Quora member admitted he is not the copyright owner.
   
   But the impression I get is that Quora staff can't care less. And probably they couldn't too, given the rampant plagiarism on the platform. Too much implications etc.
   
   Anyhow, I'll see what happens on the deadline. If the content is reinstated, I'll send another DMCA. I'll file with Google too. What stings me now is just how blatant the plagiarist is, and the possibility he is actually earning from my hard work over 3 years.

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   1. 74

      RonElFranposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      If it's any consolation, the plagiarist won't actually earn anything since the Quora Partners Program pays only for questions, not answers. The only reward they can get from using your material in an answer is the notoriety of having lots of views and upvotes.

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8. 63

   CYong74posted 4 years ago

   Thanks for your advice and kind words everyone.

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9. 68

   Glenn Stokposted 4 years ago

   I think the main problem is that Quora gets thousands of DMCA complaints and they can't pay attention to detail on each individual case. They merely keep a record of the fact that you filed and that the counter claim from the other party had been received.
   
   So, I would suggest that you write back to Quora stating that the other party had admitted in his counter claim that he is not the copyright holder by stating that he posted a link to your content, and that you will take court action against Quora and the other party if Quora does not uphold their published guidelines against plagiarism.
   
   Please note that I am not an attorney, so this is only a suggestion.

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10. 63

    CYong74posted 4 years ago

    RonElFran: Oh that's indeed a consolation. The plagiarist has gotten lots of traffic and upvotes for that answer. But at least he's earning nothing.

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       DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Check the traffic sources to that article and see how many (or if any?) from that site. I posted one on there with a link to one of my articles and so far have had 3000 page views from it. (It is not the entire article, unlike yours. I just added something at the bottom that said "if you want to read more about this, go to ....)

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       1. 63

          CYong74posted 4 years agoin reply to this

          Not a single click. Which is not surprising since the plagarist plonked my entire hub, including pictures, into his answer.
          
          Anyway, I've done what Marisa said and sent Quora a third reply. I hope they respond. If not, and if my content is reinstated, I'll just submit another DMCA to them, and to Google.

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             Glenn Stokposted 4 years agoin reply to this

             Did you also include in your third reply what I suggested two days ago?

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11. 63

    CYong74posted 4 years ago

    Glenn: I did that last Sat and have not heard from Quora since. I'm hoping some Quora staff would eventually give my reply a serious read. Thanks for the suggestion.

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12. 63

    CYong74posted 4 years ago

    Marisa: But in Quora's official notice, they indicate I have to actually file ...
    
    Not sure whether I'm reading the legalese wrongly, but that's the impression I get.

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    1. 0

       Marisa Writesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       Where does it say that?  You quoted the following:
       
       " If we do not receive a notice from the original complainant within 10 business days, stating that the original complainant is seeking a court order to prevent further infringement of the content at issue...."
       
       you have to state that you "are seeking".  That does not mean you have already filed anything.

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13. 63

    CYong74posted 4 years ago

    Marisa: Noted! I will attempt this with them if they ignore my rebuttal.

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    1. 68

       Glenn Stokposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       You have ten days to respond as Marisa and I have been telling you. Please don’t let that time elapse.

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14. 63

    CYong74posted 4 years ago

    Glenn, I did. No reply.
    
    Not surprising really. I don't think Quora staff read this correspondences.

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    1. 68

       Glenn Stokposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       The Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires them to respond to properly declared takedown notices. Unfortunately, in your case, they did. And the plagiarist did too. So that’s why you need to make it clear that the plagiarist admitted in his response that it was not his copyright. I think they are missing that point, as I mentioned earlier. 
       
       By the way, did you send it to the correct address of the Copyright Agent at
        copyright@quora.com
       
       In addition, did you include the required wording as follows?
       
       “I declare that I have a good faith belief that the disputed use of the copyrighted material or reference link to such material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.”

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       1. 63

          CYong74posted 4 years agoin reply to this

          I have included everything, and more, in three replies to them.
          
          The problem is, I think it's as you say. They get tons of these DMCAs, followed by counter-claims issued by scoundrels or people generally not in the know. Their default practice is probably is to remove when told and to reinstate when demanded. I doubt they read each claim or counter in detail.
          
          This is horrid to me. I respect Quora as a knowledge platform in spite of the abundant rubbish found nowadays on it. It's shameful.

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          1. 68

             Glenn Stokposted 4 years agoin reply to this

             It's sad that you are going through such a disgusting experience. I once had someone argue with my complaint to Quora too. But as soon as I made it clear that the use of my content was not authorized, they took it down for good.

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             chef-de-jourposted 4 years agoin reply to this

             If you get no joy from your efforts, with all this help - maybe there's some useful info within this Quora blog?
             
             https://www.quora.com/What-is-an-DMCA-takedown

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             1. 63

                CYong74posted 4 years agoin reply to this

                I read that link when I received the counter notice. And I used the words in it to highlight to Quora how they shouldn't have entertained the counter notice, given the plagiarist admitted to stealing content.
                
                But there's no reply so far.
                
                The disgust aside, this is really frightening. It's always a fact that it's nigh impossible to completely prevent online from being stolen. But for it to happen on a major platform? And for the platform to be so irresponsible?
                
                It's like a horror movie.

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15. 63

    CYong74posted 4 years ago

    Update. After doing all that was suggested and recommended, Quora went ahead to reinstate the stolen content. WITHOUT even informing me.
    
    Nothing much I can do thus, except filing a DMCA with Bing and Google.

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