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by paulgb 4587 days ago
An unfortunate double-standard of the DMCA is that only damages are recoverable in the event of a false takedown.

There's an ongoing case right now that would test whether "loss of free speech" is a recoverable damage.

Best of luck to Automattic, it's nice to see someone taking action.
1 comments
rlpb 4587 days ago
Isn't some sort of criminal sanction for "perjury" an additional consequence? Or is that entirely toothless?
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paulgb 4586 days ago
IANAL but I've been censored by the DMCA before and fought it. My understanding is that perjury is a crime against the court/government, so you'd have to convince a district attorney to pursue it which is rarely done.

Also, the takedown requires a much weaker statement under perjury than the counter-takedown. "the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed". There's (bizarrely) no need to claim good faith.

Edit: here's my story: https://medium.com/this-happened-to-me/9ccd3a157914

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