DMCA Notificaton - CJ Datafeed using Black & Decker Prod
Submitted by Duncan on Mon, 07/09/2007 - 22:00.
I noticed my domain was down this morning and the reason was I was using images and data provided from CJ.com via there datafeeds.
Merchants affected: Homedepot, Tooking, Northerntool
I've spent most of my getting my domain active and convincing the ISP to block certain folders.
I'm talking to CJ Law department and the last response I received, I had to contact the merchants to resolve this. Hmmm.. contact the merchant. Damm... you provide the datafeed.
FYI to all... if your hosting Black & Decker products, you could receive a legal letter telling you to stop selling there products. I guess the merchant doesn't have the legal write to let you use the graphics from another merchant without individual approval.
Any thoughts?
From my ISP ------------------------------------------------------
You need to remove all Black&Decker copyright images from your website.
It doesn't matter where you're linking those images from. Until
Black&Decker (or their representatives) have rescinded the DMCA
notification, or you file a counter-notification (which then places all
legal liability upon yourself, and removes it from my ISP) we cannot
host the content in question without facing potential legal action from
the complainant.
And to clarify: We are not taking your site down; Black&Decker is.
Should my ISP ignore their notification, we could be sued by
Black&Decker per the DMCA law.
If you'd like to contact the complainant to explain the use of the
content and try to get them to rescind the DMCA notification, let me
know
and I'll provide you the contact information in the initial
notification.
If you intend to file a counter-notification, I recommend contacting
an
attorney who specializes in intellectual property law. They can apprise
you on your rights in this situation, and best determine whether you
might suffer legal action by submitting a counter-notification. We
unfortunately cannot provide such legal advice, we can only comply with
the DMCA notification we have been sent (which, again, is filed under
their penalty of perjury).
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Hmmm...is working with CJ too risky now?
Wow, your situation does sound confusing.
Can you ask your ISP for a transcript of the complaint to see who it came from? It sounds to me like Home Depot didn't request Black and Decker's permission to post its products on the relevant data feed.
Or maybe the Black and Decker legal department was doing a spot check/mass ISP notification of trademark infringements, and they didn't bother to check and see if your site links were legitimate.
The above scenario illustrates beautifully why the DMCA is very controversial, yet I doubt there's much point in disputing the complaint unless you're making a ton on the relevant datafeed and you can legally prove Black and Decker authorized you to use its trademarks. But I, of course, am not a lawyer...
On another note...I wonder if CJ has lost too much credibility to be an effective affiliate network right now.
The nada response you got from the CJ legal department seems representative of everything I've read and experienced about CJ's interesting business practices and the quality of service it provides most of its affiliates.
I don't know about the adware thing, but CJ seems to regularly deactivate affiliate accounts without explanation or notice. According to postings in other forums CJ has wiped out accounts even though, in some cases, the relevant affiliate felt he/she reached the so-called $10.00 threshold.
In my case, I logged on one day to find that my account was mysteriously deactivated but the CJ links on my site were still functional/clickable. I assume that means that if anyone clicked the CJ links on my site, CJ and its merchants got fat commissions and I was an unpaid dupe providing free advertising.
Over the past several weeks I've noticed a lot of new and prominent merchants showing up on Performics, an affiliate network owned by DoubleClick/Google. At least one merchant I like has switched from CJ to Performics.
For a long time, I've held on to a CJ account because it seemed to have a monopoly on the affiliate network market, but maybe hedging bets with Performics (Google by extension) and independent affiliate programs is more wise at this point.
What does everyone else think?
Janna
DMCA Notificaton - CJ Datafeed using Black & Decker Prod
This is a very complicated issue. I find it very surprising that Black & Decker has a problem with you displaying copyrighted images as an affiliate partner whose trying to help them make more $ales?
I could understand if you had a copyrighted image next to some offensive or questionable content, or were selling their products through some illegal channel...
I suggest calling the merchant right away and sending them a copy of the notice. Make sure they follow up with Black & Decker so they understand the nature of your affiliate relationship. I'm guessing they don't even know what an affiliate is.
Regarding CJ's role... They don't like to be a mediator. They're not really qualified to give you legal advice as it relates to a merchant's products and services. I think the best advice is to contact the merchant in this case.
The content in the datafeed really is the responsibility of the merchant. CJ's role is to make that content available to you as a publisher. If there are spelling errors, incorrect pricing or other problems it's incumbent on the merchant to make corrections.
a different CJ answer...
How about this?
Gee, sorry the legal dept. can't advise you on this issue but CJ holds its merchants to high customer service standards and merchant ____ needs to help you resolve your datafeed copyright issue. Therefore we'll forward your message to the merchant and Janet, our head customer service rep. Her contact info is as follows -------
Please let Janet know if you don't receive an answer to your inquiry in a timely fashion.
Thanks for being a loyal CJ customer.
:-)