[Infowarrior] - Bogus DMCA Threats As A Marketing Strategy

[Richard Forno]

Bogus DMCA Threats As A Marketing Strategy
http://techdirt.com/articles/20070510/195141.shtml

We've seen all sorts of misuses of the DMCA over the years, but this one
probably wins the contest, hands down. It's a company (who I will not name
for reasons I explain later) that makes DRM technology. Today, the company
put out a press release saying that it had sent out cease-and-desist letters
to Apple, Microsoft, Adobe and Real for violating the DMCA. And, just how do
they claim that these four companies violate the DMCA? Well, in the twisted
logic of the press release, "mere avoidance of an effective copyright
protection solution is a violation of the act." This isn't actually true,
but in a press release you can claim whatever you want. Therefore, the fact
that the DRM used by these four companies isn't "effective" (by which the
company means not using its own DRM solution) supposedly means that they're
violating the DMCA. This is really sneaky for a few reasons, but we're not
going to name the company involved because this is clearly a marketing
stunt, rather than anything serious. They're abusing the DMCA to get press
coverage.

First of all, notice that they didn't actually file a DMCA takedown notice
or file any actual lawsuit. They simply sent a cease-and-desist (and, of
course, their own press release) -- which is effectively meaningless.
Cease-and-desist letters can be (and often are) completely ignored. The
recipient is under no requirement to follow. In normal circumstances, where
a cease-and-desist actually has some weight behind it, it's because the
sender of the cease-and-desist will file a lawsuit if the recipient doesn't
comply. Of course, in this case, the company in question cannot file a DMCA
lawsuit, because it has no standing. Even if it were true (and it's not)
that having bad copy protection was a DMCA violation, you have to be the
copyright holder to file the DMCA notice (otherwise you can get into
trouble). This company is not the copyright holder... they're just some no
name maker of DRM software that thinks a cheap publicity stunt abusing the
DMCA will get them attention.