Warner Brothers Issued DMCA Takedown Request For Content It Didn't Own

Most of us would expect if a major movie studio is issuing take down notices using the DMCA to stop people that post its copyrighted content that someone would have looked to be sure the demands that they make on infringement is legit. As it turns out Warner Brothers did nothing like that. The company apparently used a scraper to look for keywords and the send automated take down requests.

The software the company used looked for keywords like "The Box" which is a title of a movie WB owns from 2009. The software issued take down requests on any content that had the two common words listed. That means that WB issued takedowns for books and all sorts of stuff it didn't have the copyrights to.

It also means that legitimate content was taken down for no reason from the website Hotfile. Hotfile and Warner Brothers are in a suit right now alleging that Hotfile assisted in copyright infringement and violated the DMCA. Hotfile is now accusing WB of violating DMCA by asking for takedowns of content it doesn't own. You would think someone would be checking what takedown demands were made before they went out.

[via ArsTechnica]