Everybody BEWARE, there may be Lawyers lurking on Steemit!
Just got a DMCA Take-down notice regarding the above link:
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: TMP Saturday Graphics [email protected]
To: **********
Sent: Thursday, September 8, 2016 6:30 PM
Subject: Fwd: Your work on Redbubble - tmpsg
--
Sent from my Android phone with GMX Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
On 09/08/2016, 5:57 PM Redbubble Content Team *****@redbubble.com wrote:
Dear [TMPsg],
We have removed the following content from Redbubble as a result of having received a complaint from KHerrick LLC / COCA-COLA, the claimed owner or licensee of related intellectual property, and in accordance with Redbubble's IP/Publicity Rights Policy:
Your Cola Name: http://www.redbubble.com/people/tmpsg/works/12713105-your-cola-name
As you will be aware from our IP/Publicity Rights Policy, Redbubble requires a certain amount of information before it acts on such a complaint, including that:
the relevant content is specifically named;
the complaint came from the owner of the respective rights (or someone authorized to act on their behalf); and
they have a good faith belief that the use of the relevant content is not authorized by the content owner, its agent or the law.
If you believe that removal of the above content is the result of a mistake (for example, that you have authorization to use the relevant content from the content owner) or misidentification, you can send us a counter notice. Such counter notice must provide the following information:
an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the relevant matter;
a description of the content which we have removed, including the URL on which the content was located on the Redbubble site;
your address, telephone number, and email address;
a statement by you that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court, San Francisco County, California, United States and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification described above or an agent of such person;
a statement by you that, under penalty of perjury, you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled;
If you would like to send a counter notice please email the required information above to *****@redbubble.com.
Please note that in some circumstances, if the work does not comply with our User Agreement and/or IP/Publicity Rights Policy, we may not be able to send your counter notice on to the complainant, rather we may inform you at the time of receipt that we cannot reinstate the work. We may also request further information from you in order to determine whether the work can be reinstated.
However, you should be aware that in most circumstances we will inform the complainant that you have provided a counter notice, as well as provide the complainant with a copy of your counter notice, which will include your personal contact information. The complainant will have 14 days to bring legal action against you in the United States. After 14 days, if they do not bring legal action and you would like your content restored to the Redbubble site, you may contact us to request that we reinstate your work. Redbubble may restore the content at that time if it otherwise complies with our User Agreement and IP/Publicity Rights Policy.
Further information regarding Redbubble's IP/Publicity Rights Policy ...
Regards,
Redbubble Content Team
Dear Redbubble DMCA Support Services,
Thank you for bringing the "Cola-Name" Customizable Works removal to my attention. I do not intend to file any counter notices as it is not worth the trouble for me. You may leave this work off of your servers.
To clarify, I did not think this to be any kind of infringement pursuant to the fair use provision in the trademark statute, 15 USC § 1115(b)(4) "Nominative use". Simply offering to design someone's name in a similar type face as Coca-Cola is something I have seen offered in many places elsewhere.
Furthermore a quick search for "Coke" on the redbubble.com renders many other derivative works, as well as near direct trademark replications.
It was interesting to find the following on the Law Firm's website Redbubble identifies as the issuer of the DMCA against my nominative work:
http://kherricklaw.com/what-we-do/
Subheading Two:
"Intellectual Property Enforcement"
Sentence Two:
"We pride ourselves on our ability to resolve disputes without landing your business in the headlines as a “bully.”"
As always I enjoy posting to Redbubble and would like to continue doing so. I have sent a copy of this email to Coca-Cola and the law firm involved to demonstrate good faith.
Thank You,
[TMP]
CC:
• [email protected]
• Bernadette Drankoski
Marketing Counsel
The Coca-Cola Company