Filing DMCA's with Course Hero and DocShare?

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   Shesabutterflyposted 21 months ago

   Has anyone had any luck getting material removed from Course Hero? Is it worth filing DMCA's? The only reason I am even finding the content, is by doing Google searches of different paragraphs from my articles. HP has not alerted me to any copyright issues. I wonder if it is because the whole content cannot be seen on Course Hero without an account?
   
   I do not know how popular Course Hero or Docshare are, but I am not fond of my work being plagiarized and used as "learning material". I know students can just as easily copy from a simple Google search, but this bothers me more. People claiming my work as their own study material does not sit well with me. I've filed multiple DMCA's with Docshare over the years, but I have never heard back from a single one I've filed. The contacts page on their website comesback as undeliverable.
   
   Not sure if either of these sites would be worth filing with Google considering I cannot find the content in search results without selecting specific paragraphs. They do not pop up simply by searching different title keywords (titles have been changed) and as far as I can tell Course Hero does not use ads.

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 21 months agoin reply to this

      I've used DMCA complaints to Docshare and my work was removed from there (all about a year ago). One of my articles appeared on Course Hero and before I sent in the DMCA on that one, the article was already removed.

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      1. 68

         Shesabutterflyposted 21 months agoin reply to this

         Do you happen to remember what contact information you used for Docshare? I have been sending emails periodically for the last year or two via their contact information, and the emails keep getting returned as undeliverable. I sent an email to who I think is their hosting company almost a week ago, but have yet to hear back. I was hoping the hosting company would be more helpful.

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            Patty Inglish, MSposted 21 months agoin reply to this

            I don't remember at this point, but I searched for the site and my computer says it is an unsafe site. Crunchbase.com says it's operational status is "closed." Is there more than one Docshare?

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            1. 68

               Shesabutterflyposted 21 months agoin reply to this

               I do not believe so. A look at their homepage shows no new activity since May of 2023, so they very well could be dormant and not using the site anymore.
               
               I'll ignore the copyright for this site. Thank you for the insight. I always get there via the HP notice, and it never occurred to me that the site might not be active anymore.

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2. 68

   eugbugposted 21 months ago

   Yes, I have got content removed several times, but I've had to nag them, they don't make it easy and frequently look for extra confirmation. I've also got errors on the form below where it doesn't recognise Course Hero URLs because only the preview can be viewed without logging in, and I've had to contact them.
   
   https://www.coursehero.com/takedown-not … ringement/

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   1. 68

      Shesabutterflyposted 21 months agoin reply to this

      For a site that reiterates honor and integrity they sure make it hard to work with them.
      
      I filled that sheet out initally and they have asked twice for me to identify the original copyrighted work and the basis for my claims. I don't know how else to answer the same question.
      
      Have you sent pictures or how did you send further proof?

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         chef-de-jourposted 21 months agoin reply to this

         I've had many dealings with CH over the years! The last was in 2022 when I sent them a DMCA and they responded within a few days. See below.
         Not sure if they still have their own DMCA form?
         
         
         
         
         DMCA Agent (Compliance)
         
         Mar 26, 2022, 1:36 PDT
         
         Hello,
         
         Thank you for providing an official DMCA takedown notification.
         
         In compliance with DMCA protocol, we have disabled access to the content located at:
         
         https://www.coursehero.com/file/5655690 … -Poemdocx/
         
         Please note, we have filtering technologies in place to prevent exact duplicates of removed documents from being reuploaded.
         
         What happens next?
         
         Under the DMCA, Course Hero is required to inform the content uploader about this removal, and they have the option to file a counter-notification.
         
         If Course Hero receives a proper counter-notification, it must reinstate the removed material in 10–14 business days.
         
         It is important to note that Course Hero has a repeat infringer policy in place, in compliance with the DMCA. The repeat infringer policy gives Course Hero the right to terminate the uploading user’s access to their account if they are found to be a repeat offender in violation of the Course Hero copyright policy.
         
         Thank you for submitting your request. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.
         
         Sincerely,
         
         The Course Hero Compliance Team
         Course Hero, Inc.

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         1. 68

            Shesabutterflyposted 21 months agoin reply to this

            I used their form, but I'm thinking it would have been easier to use HP's in an email instead.
            
            After a week of back and forth and sending pictures along with the quoted text I finally was able to get the infringing content removed.
            
            I understand the niche sites can be a nightmare to navigate at times, but this was literally the first paragraph verbatim. It should not have been that time consuming.

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      2. 68

         eugbugposted 21 months agoin reply to this

         I think I just provided the with the information I provided previously. Usually if a company is dopey (for instance Google regularly are, but maybe though it's because they use AI to process the initial takedown request and the system can't identify the copied content), I lose my patience and tell them to cop on and that the copied content is plainly obvious. That usually gets results.

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