Am 04.02.2013 10:21, schrieb Lester Caine: > OK - there is an 'official procedure' for dealing with copyright > infringement documented on > http://www.osmfoundation.org/wiki/License/Takedown_procedure through > which even 'Cease and Desist' should be handled? It is normal practice > nowadays to follow the 'Digital Millennium Copyright Act' rules for > all copyright and trademark disputes relating to the internet.
The DCMA takedown process has nothing to do with trademark, or patent disputes. It concerns itself solely with copyright issues (and that in the US of A). Following the procedure provides us a safe harbour against being sued in the US (for contributory infringement and damages). This protection comes with the price of us simply complying with valid (in formal terms) requests without making a determination if the material in question is actually infringing the rights of whoever made the takedown request. The basic procedure is given by the law and for example is documented on the http://www.chillingeffects.org/ site (which unluckily seems to be experiencing a lot problems recently). I doubt that it would be wise or legally possible to publish the full text of any takedown requests we have received, and if it is just for UK data protection regulations. I do think it would be a good idea to publish something along the lines of a "transparency" report on a quarterly or similar base, however (DWG pls correct me) I don't believe that outside of internal disputes there have been any noticeable number of takedown or similar requests from third parties over the life of the project to date so it is not going to make very interesting reading My personal opinion only naturally. Simon _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk