A complaint filed recently by Facebook.com in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California highlights some of the difficulties that Internet-based IP owners can face from others who would misappropriate their content. In the complaint (which spans 114 pages, including attachments), Facebook alleges that a German entity, StudiVZ Ltd., its parent and its affiliates misappropriated Facebook’s trade dress in the popular social networking site by setting up various, unauthorized, similar sites in German and other European languages that copy the look and feel of Facebook. Facebook also alleges that StudiVZ violated the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by opening Facebook accounts for the purpose of copying various elements of the site and using that information to set up the infringing sites.
Popular Internet content owners must maintain vigilance against attempts to misappropriate that content. When the infringers are located in the U.S., it is often easier to remedy the problem. Online acts of copyright infringement often can be handled without ever even contacting the infringer by giving notice of the problem to the infringer’s ISP under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. While there is no equivalent to the DMCA for alleged online trademark infringement, it is still often possible to contact the infringer’s ISP to draw attention to behavior that is, usually, a violation of the ISP’s terms of use. Even when an ISP is non-responsive to that kind of informal request, having all of the parties stateside usually makes it easier to dispose of the matter through a cease and desist letter or, when necessary, through litigation.
Foreign infringers often present additional difficulties, however, because their ISP’s may not be subject to the DMCA (though there may be other, similar, copyright-related tools in their jurisdiction), and they are likely to be even less receptive to advances from a U.S.-based business regarding allegations of infringement. In its case, Facebook had the "fortune" (if you want to call it that) of having an alleged infringer with a sufficient U.S. presence to support a claim of jurisdiction in U.S. courts. In contrast. many content owners face the challenge of dealing with content infringers who have no U.S. presence, thereby usually requiring either an unlikely informal resolution or else action in the infringer’s jurisdiction.
If you discover that your online content has been misappropriated by another party, it is important to confer quickly with your attorney to determine what, if any, remedies may be available to reach the most effective resolution available.
Posted by Mariqus Alexander at 08/28/2008 11:58:43 AM