Blog-Stealing: The Response

Apparently, dealing with blog-stealing creeps is more difficult than I assumed. Blogger has adopted a “it’s your problem, do the work” attitude. Their response, below:

Hi there,

Thank you for your note. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged
infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the
text of which can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office website:
http://lcWeb.loc.gov/copyright/ ) and other applicable intellectual
property laws, which may include removing or disabling access to material
claimed to be the subject of infringing activity.

To file a notice of infringement with us, you must provide a written
communication (by fax or regular mail, not by email) that sets forth the
items specified below. Please note that pursuant to that Act, you may be
liable to the alleged infringer for damages (including costs and
attorneys’ fees) if you materially misrepresent that you own an item when
you in fact do not. Indeed, in a recent case (please see
http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/legpolicy/opg_v_diebold/ for more
information), a company that sent an infringement notification seeking
removal of online materials that were protected by the fair use doctrine
was ordered to pay such costs and attorneys fees. The company agreed to
pay over $100,000. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material
available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first
contact an attorney.

To expedite our ability to process your request, please use the following
format (including section numbers):

1. Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has
been infringed upon. This must include identification of specific posts,
as opposed to entire sites. Posts must be referenced by either the dates
in which they appear or the permalink of the post. For example,
http://example.blogspot.com/archives/2003_01_21_example_archive.html#2104575.

2. Identify the material that you claim is infringing upon the copyrighted
work listed in item #1 above.

YOU MUST IDENTIFY EACH POST BY PERMALINK OR DATE THAT ALLEGEDLY CONTAINS
INFRINGING MATERIAL. The permalink for a post is usually found by clicking
on the timestamp of the post.

3. Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Blogger to contact
you (email address is preferred).

4. Include the following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use
of the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing
web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the
law.”

5. Include the following statement: “I swear, under penalty of perjury,
that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the
copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an
exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”

6. Sign the paper.

7. Send the written communication to the following address:

Google, Inc.
Attn: Blogger Legal Support, DMCA complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy
Mountain View, CA 94043

OR Fax to:

(650) 618-2680, Attn: Blogger Legal Support, DMCA complaints

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team