Canadian Anti-Infringement Enforcement Company Caught Using Infringing Photos On Its Website
from the casual-infringement-for-all! dept
IP "enforcement" is a Herculean task (according to the enforcers), one that requires so much time and energy that those pursuing infringers barely have time to make sure their own backyard is clean. Many in the copyright industry (or closely affiliated) have been caught infringing on others' copyrights: hosted infringing material. SOPA pusher Lamar Smith. NBC Universal. Righthaven. The US Copyright Group. The list literally goes on and on.Here we are again, discussing an entity so concerned with outside infringement, it can hardly be bothered to notice the infringement within its own walls. Canipre, the Canadian "forensics software" company that has hunted down IP addresses for a "million pirates" on behalf of lawsuit-happy studios like Voltage Pictures ('Hurt Locker,' anyone), has decked out its (rather overdramatic) website with the unlicensed photos belonging to others.
Canipre, as a company, offers to track down people who are illegally downloading copyrighted material from record companies and film studios. According to their website, they have issued more than 3,500,000 takedown notices, and their work has led to multimillion dollar damages awards, injunctions, seizure of assets, and even incarceration.Well, it seems the "sense of entitlement" goes all the way up. Here's a screencap of Canipre's website that features a self-portrait by Steve Houk.
In a recent interview, Canipre's managing director Barry Logan explained that it's about much more than just money—he's hoping to teach the Canadian public a moral lesson:
"[We want to] change social attitudes toward downloading. Many people know it is illegal but they continue to do it... Our collective goal is not to sue everybody… but to change the sense of entitlement that people have, regarding Internet-based theft of property.”
We'll quote Vice here:
So, just to be clear: Canipre has written "they all know it's wrong and they're still doing it." Referring to copyright theft. On top of an image that they are using without the permission of the copyright holder. On their official website.Houk says no permission was given to use his photo. He contacted Canipre directly to discuss its infringement and to point out that is was "disheartening" to see a company claiming to "champion intellectual property rights" obviously disregarding the rights of others. This led to Canipre's marketing director firing off a volley of emails and phone calls before finally deciding to pass the buck.
Logan claimed that the company used a 3rd party vendor to develop their website and that the vendor had purchased the image from an image bank.So, it's important that Canipre maintains a presence on the web that properly (and noirishly) delivers its message on the importance of intellectual property rights, but not important enough to dot i's, cross t's and make sure its "third party vendor" isn't simply grabbing images from "the internet" (or image banks with their own infringement problem).
I pointed out to Logan that if that was true, he had basically paid his vendor to rip off other people's creative work. Logan told me that he would contact his web provider and have the image removed. He also told me that he would provide me with the name of the website developer and the name of the image bank where they obtained my photo.
Logan has yet to provide the name of the developer or the image bank, so it still remains somewhat of a mystery which 3rd party vendor slapped Houk's photo onto an IP enforcer's website. And this photo, taken by Sascha Pohlflepp. And this one, taken by Brian Moore. At this point, all of the infringing photos have been taken down, but only after Vice called attention to Canipre's actons.
The ironic thing about the last two photos is that they're both Creative Commons-licensed, meaning all Canipre (or its vendor) had to do was properly attribute the photos. But neither could be bothered.
Now, some might say that in the scheme of things, Canipre's infringement is nothing compared to the infringement it's fighting. But here's the difference. Canipre is a company that helps studios like Voltage sue alleged infringers based on not much more than an IP address. File sharers aren't turning a profit or presenting themselves as righters of the world's wrongs. If you're going to put yourself in the position of "educating" people (via mass lawsuits) about the importance of the intellectual property rights you're being paid to protect, you had better make sure you're not stepping on the IP toes of others.
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Filed Under: canada, copyright, infringement, licenses, photographs
Companies: canipre, voltage pictures
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Re: applying as a Phil. Representative of CANADA ANTI PIRACY CAMPAIGN
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The irony is too much to bear...
Also, cue these same morons blabbing something about "exceptions" or "anomalies". What's the anomaly count now?
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Over 9000, at least.
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What?! 9000?! There's no way that can be right, CAN IT?!
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This guy...
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Perhaps it is your social attitude that needs to change, in particular when people feel that it is appropriate to lock people up for doing the same thing as borrowing DVDs from friends.
And perhaps you need to change the sense of unjustified entitlement copyright law has when it comes to claiming authority despite its irrationality.
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Fair Use
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Re: Fair Use
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Re: Fair Use
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Re: Fair Use
C A N A D A
I know the majority of Canadians live with a hundred miles of the US border, but that doesn't mean US Customs can just traipse over…
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That's gonna crack me up all day, thanks.
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"all of the infringing photos have been taken down,"
Canipre's infringement is nothing compared to the infringement it's fighting. -- I copy/pasted, but not quoted because that's exactly what I'd say! The minion knows the obvious truth, and only tries to dodge it. -- This likely unknowing mistake, easily corrected, is NOTHING like you pirates ripping off someone's $100 MILLION dollar movie. NOTHING LIKE.
Take a loopy tour of Techdirt.com! You always end up same place!
http://techdirt.com/
If Mike supports copyright, why are the pirates here? They take him same as I do: PRO-PIRACY!
02:33:01[c-090-1]
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Re: "all of the infringing photos have been taken down,"
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Re: "all of the infringing photos have been taken down,"
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Re: "all of the infringing photos have been taken down,"
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Re: "all of the infringing photos have been taken down,"
No. We're not saying that there should be some mechanism where the photo owner doesn't have to watch out for this sort of thing. We're jeering that an anti-infringement group couldn't police THEMSELVES. They're not protected by the DMCA here. They aren't acting as a service provider to whoever they hired.
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Re: "all of the infringing photos have been taken down,"
If so, then Caprice commited theft. Now you are arguing that "this" theft isn't as bad as "that" theft.
Which is it, man? What happened to "the law is the law" and natural rights and all that horse-crap you like to spew?
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Re: "all of the infringing photos have been taken down,"
When a movie studio goes broke because of piracy, not mismanagement, I'll take you seriously.
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The main point of the story is that a bunch of people who are allegedly so concerned about "theft" that they can't be bothered to stop "thieving' themselves. Its like preaching about how morally bankrupt chop shops are while hot wiring a car.
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Re: Re: "all of the infringing photos have been taken down,"
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Re: "all of the infringing photos have been taken down,"
Thanks for confirmation of something I've long suspected, though: to those defending intrusive interpretations of copyright, a crime is even bigger when it happens to something well funded and mainstream.
What a sham your anti-corporate populism is!
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Re: "all of the infringing photos have been taken down,"
Yes, boy, to protect themselves from those who set themselves up as champions of copyright!
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The government has absolutely no business whatsoever established a monopoly or passing anti-competitive laws for private or commercial purposes.
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Oh wait, you mean they just raised the fines for copyright infringement? Well then, I'm Canipre will be even more a okay at paying a mere $10 Trillion dollars to the copyright holder, after all, I'm sure Canipre supported the bill that raised the fines!
Sure some might say that $100 Billion and $10 Trillion dollar fines are excessive, but the courts have already ruled that anything below infinity is perfectly reasonable! I trust their judgement better then my own on this, as I'm sure does Canipre!
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They all know
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Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...
I especially like how IP-enforcers like Canipre sue whenever there is a possible infringement issue, but common artists/etc just make a quick phone call to figure out what's going on. Solves the problem quickly, efficiently, and without wasting everyone's time.
I don't quite get how your point is much different than the current health care system. Currently anyone in the US is covered and people with health insurance (paying customers) foot the bill. Take that system and convert to paying customers at movie theathers and buying DVD/Blue-Ray (which are overpriced as hell just like health care!) and you have a fairly similar situation...
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Smell the Hypocrisy
Steaming pile of hypocritical bullshit. Live by the sword, die by the sword. They should be immediately sued for maximum statutory damages, just like everyone else is treated.
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Hold the company responsible for outside vendors
I think it's past time we held companies like this responsible for negligence for not checking their vendors' work.
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Voltage-CrossExam-Logan-TRANSCRIPT.pdf
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