I'm Paul C. Jeffries, Head of Legal Operations at Facebook, where I work with the team that handles incoming notices of intellectual property infringement. I wanted to provide a little color about what happened in this situation.
As you may have heard, today we investigated a number of recent trademark (intellectual property) takedowns, and as a result of this investigation we restored four Facebook Pages. We apologize for any disruption to those who posted content.
Taking a step back, abuse of DMCA and other intellectual property notice procedures is a challenge for every major Internet service, and we take it seriously. In many cases, when we're put on notice we're obligated to take appropriate action. We have invested significant resources into creating a dedicated team (including me) that uses specialized tools, systems, and technology to review and properly handle these intellectual property notices. This system evaluates a number of factors when deciding how to respond -- and in many cases, we require the reporter to provide additional information before we can take action.
As a result of these efforts, the vast majority of intellectual property notices that we receive are handled without incident. Of course, no system is perfect and we're always striving to improve our practices. Rest assured that the dedicated team who handle incoming complaints from rights holders are equally devoted to protecting the interests of people expressing themselves on Facebook. As part of our ongoing efforts to improve, we will be considering the results of our investigation into this matter as we continue to refine our systems and procedures.
Can you add anything that wasn't in the originally-posted article? For example, answers to any of these questions:
Why was the accused infringer of trademarks not given specific, actionable information about the trademarks in question? You state that the reporter is required to provide additional information in many cases. Assuming this was one of those cases, why was this additional information not shared with the accused infringer? (And if this was not one of those cases, why mention this at all?)
You invoke the DMCA, citing it as obligating you to take appropriate action. Was the action taken in this case the most appropriate one? Who decides what's appropriate here, Facebook or the relevant laws?
Care to discuss any of your specialized tools, systems, and technology to review and properly handle IP notices? I can't speak for others, but their mere presence says little to me.
No sane person expects a perfect system. We're just curious about the particular circumstances of this particular case, and you have a reasonable audience here who would love for you to share some of them.
Dear Paul, I am German lawyer, facebook-Fan and I found a trademark "facebook" that is registerd by an Individual in the German Trademark-Register (DE 302010048481). The opposition deadline ends may, 18.th. If I can file the opossition let me know. I would love to do it. Best regards Georg Fechner (fechner@uvh.de)
As you may have heard, today we investigated a number of recent trademark (intellectual property) takedowns, and as a result of this investigation we restored four Facebook Pages. We apologize for any disruption to those who posted content.
Taking a step back, abuse of DMCA and other intellectual property notice procedures is a challenge for every major Internet service, and we take it seriously. In many cases, when we're put on notice we're obligated to take appropriate action. We have invested significant resources into creating a dedicated team (including me) that uses specialized tools, systems, and technology to review and properly handle these intellectual property notices. This system evaluates a number of factors when deciding how to respond -- and in many cases, we require the reporter to provide additional information before we can take action.
As a result of these efforts, the vast majority of intellectual property notices that we receive are handled without incident. Of course, no system is perfect and we're always striving to improve our practices. Rest assured that the dedicated team who handle incoming complaints from rights holders are equally devoted to protecting the interests of people expressing themselves on Facebook. As part of our ongoing efforts to improve, we will be considering the results of our investigation into this matter as we continue to refine our systems and procedures.