Plagiarizing a Takedown Notice

ChipMonk writes "Over at hobbyist site OS News, editor-in-chief Thom Holwerda published a highly skeptical opinion of the announcement of Commodore USA's own Amiga line. Within hours, Commodore USA sent a takedown notice to OS News, demanding a retraction of the piece and accusing the site of libel and defamation. What's funny is that the takedown notice was mostly copied, with minor edits, from Chilling Effects, a site dedicated to publicizing attempts at squelching free speech. The formatting, line breaks, obtuse references to 'OCGA,' and even the highlighted search terms were left largely intact."

Re:Well, the accusation of libel and defamation

[mounthood]

Well, the accusation of libel and defamation and not copyright infringement.

From the summary: "Chilling Effects, a site dedicated to publicizing attempts at squelching free speech"

Re:sounds pretty libelous to me

[KibibyteBrain]

He didn't saying that Commodore USA is a hoax or con merely that he is "assuming" they are, which I presume is a way of trying to say he will treat them with such skepticism in his actions. While probably not the clearest wording those still mean different things. Something like the difference between writing"Joe is a murderer." and "Until proven otherwise, I am going to assume Joe committed the murder."

'OCGA'

[93 Escort Wagon]

Official Code of Georgia Annotated, in case you were wondering.

Re:It Shouldn't Be

[John Hasler]

> Why not? Somebody at some point created it.

Under US copyright law only "creative expression" is protected, not mere "sweat of the brow".

Re:boilerplate

[mysidia]

Arguably if they are sending down a takedown notice, this is not about getting 'credit ' for authorship. In fact they are not publishing anything when they send a takedown letter, or authorizing anything to be published. So it is questionable that it could be called plagiarism when they aren't even publishing a work.

The letter has a specific utilitarian purpose, and while the sender may be signing a statement to swear in affirmation to what the letter says is true... Signing a legal statement does not in any way imply or guarantee you wrote that statement.

Not only is authorship not implicitly understood when sending a letter like this, it is assumed and known that such letters or contracts are provided by the person or organization's legal team / advisors, and not really a work of authorship by the company sending it .

That is: "cease and decist" letters and "contracts" are factual agreements between two parties, not pieces of art, that the parties to the agreement get any credit for writing; they only get credit (in the case of contract) for having come to the agreement, when both parties sign.

Stolen Picture Too?

[StarWreck]

The top CGI picture of an Amiga with a CD-ROM, at http://www.commodoreusa.net/products.html [commodoreusa.net], I recognize from an Amiga forum from at least 3 years ago. It was made by a forum user, not any employee of Amiga or related company.

Re:Stolen Picture Too?

[prowler1]

Are you referring to the Amiga Fantasy pictures, located at http://aminet.net/pix/trace/AMIGA-fantasy1.jpg http://aminet.net/pix/trace/AMIGA-fantasy2.jpg and http://aminet.net/pix/trace/AMIGA-fantasyB.jpg which were uploaded back in 1999 to http://aminet.net ?

Commodore USA already seen on Slashdot...

[SheeEttin]

When I clicked the link to TFA, I thought I recognized some of those pictures...
Sure enough, from back in March: Commodore 64 Primed For a Comeback In June [slashdot.org].

Basically, this is a Chinese knockoff company selling PCs built into the keyboard and/or monitor (from modern hardware) with a Commodore logo slapped on.