Fun with Lawyers and their Flunkies

E to VideoSift
    
We would like a video removed due to copyright infringement.  My
lawyer boss would like to know your address and/or facsimile number to
send out a formal cease/desist letter for our client .

Pls. provide me with the requested info. to xxxx@xxx.com.  Thanks
much



Brian Houston to E

We don't have a fax, and we are not in the United States- however if you would like to tell me the content you are referring to, I'll see that it gets taken down.

Also, just a heads up.  We don't actually host any video- we just embed from sites like YouTube et al.  You will need to contact those sites to see that it is actually deleted.

Regards,

Brian Houston


 
 E to Brian Houston
    
Thank you.  We will send out the letter to you next week via email.

We will also contact Youtube and google.



Brian Houston to E
    
That's ridiculous.  Why don't you just tell me what you want taken down, and I'll remove it?



E to Brian Houston
    
It's not ridiculous because I DON'T send out the letter.  The attorney wants to write you on behalf of our client and include the website info. and sign it.   I am just doing the research for our client.

Hope you understand.



Brian Houston to E    
    
OK fine - I'll look forward to the letter - though we probably could have saved your client a billable hour with the attorney if you just told me what the offending content was, and I took it down- we're pretty responsive that way.   Suit yourself.

Cheers


E to Brian Houston

We don't charge by the hour but a fixed percentage. 
 

Thank you again, we will send the letter next week.


Brian Houston to E

Honestly, how can your expect me to give you any information beyond my email address - in response to an anonymous email without your own credentials or contact information provided.  Sorry, but that's creepy.  Whatever your percentage is, I hope it's small - because I'm half convinced that this is some kind of scam run out of Nigeria.

Regardless, we will respond to your letter.   We do our best to  respect copyright holder wishes on clips - even though we do not host them.

 

 


E to Brian Houston

 

 Sorry but trust me it is not a scam whatsoever and I belong to a real law office.
Will reply with letter next week and I'm glad you will do your utmost to handle our copyright issues.

Best,
Exxxx
Legal Asst. to Jxxx Mxxx, Esq.

blankfist says...

"xxxx@xxx.com is a pseudo e-mail address, I'm pretty sure these guys are pulling your leg Dag."

LOL! Great one, gorgonheap! That made me laugh loud enough for my girlfriend and cat look at me like I had lost my damn mind. Very funny.

As for the email, daggers, I know where she's coming from (I say "she", because something about that correspondence sounds female - not in a sexist way). She's probably pressured to locate and contact videos from her company, and because the beast known as legalese is a monster only overpaid lawyers understand, she's probably afraid to overstep any legal approach. That's coming from a guy who signs contracts with his best friends, so... Yeah! Can't be too careful!

thesnipe says...

*sniff sniff* Is it me or is there an aura of bullshit floating directly from that person's e-mail straight into your inbox?

It sounds like it's so fake it's tangible. "My lawyer boss" "The attorney wants to write you on behalf of our client and include the website info. and sign it."

Even if it's legit, it's a pretty sad attempt.

Just wait for the Nigerian Prince to come walking on in

raven says...

Yeah, I agree with Snipe... I have friends who are lawyers or law students who work as legal assistants and they never seem to have qualms about name dropping who it is they're working for, or about being all overly official with stuff... it seems like this E person, if they were indeed a real lawyer, wouldn't hesitate to get all uppity like, "I am contacting you from the offices of Snidely & Whiplash on behalf of a major client, to be disclosed at a later date... etc etc".

I suppose that I sort of understand protecting the name of their content-owning client until a certified letter can be sent, but not stating the name of the lawyer the person supposedly works for seems odd because usually lawyers are all about trotting out the name of the firm they work for... it's like their version of street cred, I don't know why this E person seems to think that is not proper in this instance.

raven says...

That's better... I see they're starting to whip out the titles and the esquires and such... much more lawyerly. I shall wait in suspense to find out who they rep and what they want removed.

And yeah, do we get a prize if its one of our sifts?

MINK says...

why don't you just tell them to fuck off, and move your server to a country that has better laws?

is the "embedding but not hosting" thing even illegal in the US?

I dunno why you are talking to this guy, he can barely write a coherent sentence, and as far as I can tell you are under zero obligation to do anything whatsoever.

correct me if i am wrong...

MINK says...

if they are also contacting YouTube and Google, who host the stuff, and will probably take it down... then why do they need to contact videosift?

i can't believe they actually don't know what an embed tag is. so wtf?

is it worth paying a lawyer to write them back a letter requesting that they cease wasting your time with their bullshit? send them your lawyer's bill.

Fedquip says...

This sounds quite suspect, back in the TayTV days I received these all the time, they always mentioned the name of the video in the opening email.

Either way, who knows I wouldn't be surprised if there is a new round of gold diggers who use youtube as a device to sue people. You could be dealing with an idiot who thinks they have a lawyer who could sue you for embeddeding a clip.

I picture a very 'down on his luck' bottom of the barrel lawyer, but yea, either that or Nigerian scam.

Keep us updated, heck keep it going, maybe you can turn this around on them and have them email you a picture of themselves with a photo of a fish on their head.

dag says...

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

>> ^MINK:
dag are you allergic to answering my questions or are my questions stupid?


Not really worth hiring a lawyer I don't think. From my understanding, there is not a lot case law to define how embedding, frames etc. effect a publisher like us.

MINK says...

ok well let us know when you get the letter. and i hope you reply negatively because it's easier watching you put your balls on the line rather than putting my own there.

still can't understand why you would give him the time of day.

are you saying this whole interweb thing might be illegal? *shock!

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