DesktopNexus - Credit: DesktopNexus.com
I just received an email from Harry Maugan of DesktopNexus. Toyota sent DesktopNexus a DMCA takedown notice, telling them to take down all their images. They are refusing to say which images they must take down, and asking them to take them all off.
Hopefully in the near future there will be more repercussions for sloppy, gratuitous copyright enforcement.
November 7th, 2008 at 15:25
Besides being overly broad and not providing you enough details to actually be a legit DMCA notice — this is another case of the legal team not consulting with the marketing team.
Seriously… “Take down our images which people are then using as wall papers on their desktops… and then staring at them over and over… and passerbys of the cubicle see it over and over… Seriously, take down our images because it’s our copyright and we spent good money on getting those shots for our advertising. We don’t want anybody repeatedly looking at our advertising images over and over unless it’s an ad we published.”
I wonder what marketing thinks about this.
November 7th, 2008 at 15:36
Those were my thoughts exactly. What are they trying to accomplish by attacking free advertising?
November 15th, 2008 at 0:33
[...] of Toyota’s position has been noticed by others as well. On the FreeCulture News site, one comment questions the action saying “What are they trying to accomplish by attacking free advertising?” [...]
November 15th, 2008 at 19:49
it’s common sense that you shouldn’t use copyrighted imagery as a critical source imagery for your wallpapers.or usage of any copyrighted material without without permission. you’re just asking for trouble. so you should go take your own pictures or find a free source.
so MikeD, are you suggesting instances of copyright infringement should be excused as free marketing? Imitations goods, dvd rips … as promos of the original?
unless the imagery is used in a way which is distinctly artistic ( ie not a imitation of the real thing , but with a distinctive style to it), i don’t think it falls under the fair use policy.
November 16th, 2008 at 8:37
DesktopNexus has a clear DMCA takedown policy, so I am sure that they receive and comply with takedown notices on a regular basis. However Toyota appears to be abusing the DMCA to get all Toyota wallpapers removed, including ones not made by Toyota themselves. I don’t think anyone’s suggesting that advertising legally falls under the defense of fair use, but abusing DMCA takedown requests is not allowed either.
November 16th, 2008 at 14:30
does this mean i should take down any pics of my car??
so i own the car but not the right to take pics of it?
by that logic a builder can sue you for any photos of your house on the internet.
surely you cant clame you own the rights to all pics featuring a toyota.
how about the news papers when they have photos of crashed ones in the news?
do they have to pay toyota.
if anything i would arrest anyone for taking pics of a toyota – the advensis is not exactly a ” sexy” car. ill stick with the classics and the fast cars for my desktop.
November 16th, 2008 at 19:40
[...] of Toyota’s position has been noticed by others as well. On the FreeCulture News site, one comment questions the action saying “What are they trying to accomplish by attacking free advertising?” [...]
November 16th, 2008 at 20:23
“Hopefully in the near future there will be more repercussions for sloppy, gratuitous copyright enforcement.”
There’s already repercussions for this sort of thing — you can technically sue Toyota for filing a false DMCA claim. Granted, you’d have to prove Toyota had no legitimate claim to any of the images they filed a DMCA claim on, but still, I wouldn’t think that’d be too hard.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:06
[...] value of Toyota’s position has been noticed by others as well. On the FreeCulture News site, one comment questions the action saying “What are they trying to accomplish by attacking free advertising?” [...]
November 17th, 2008 at 16:49
I decided to go to Toyota’s website, get their contact mailing address and send them a letter telling them that I decided to go with another automotive company for all of my current and future vehicle needs.
November 17th, 2008 at 23:03
[...] Toyota’s position has been noticed by others as well. On the FreeCulture News site, one comment questions the action saying “What are they trying to [...]
November 18th, 2008 at 23:08
[...] email a few blogs who might be interested in this DMCA butchering story. Specifically, Conley at Free Culture News took interest in our story and contacted a few friends (namely Ben at TorrentFreak) who ended up [...]