I was served with Copyright violation notice

This morning, I found in my email inbox a message from my web host Bluehost saying my account has been deactivated. That explains the lengthy downtime you might have seen.

The reason: "terms of service violation - copyright violation".

So, I was very shocked to see the Copyright violation notice. You'll understand why as you read on.

Kodansha Limited, the largest Japanese publisher, has complained to Bluehost regarding the use of pictures and video for reviews I've written for

Instead of contacting me to remove the material, they contacted my web host. They also complained to Youtube so I was given a Copyright strike #1 there.

In this day and age, if you're a Copyright owner, it seems you have the power to abuse them. Yeah, don't even bother to contact the person who created the content. Just go straight to the host who's hosting it so that they can shut down everything even if the only infringing material is that one piece from you. That's unacceptable.

I don't want to get into arguing whether Kodansha was legally right in their assessment of the amount of pictures or length of video used in those reviews. That's would be a waste of time since they have already shown that they are too silly to appreciate a helpful review.

So I've removed all the photos and videos used in those reviews, leaving only a photo of book cover.

Thankfully, most the of photos and videos aren't actually hosted on Bluehost. During the deactivation, I can only work on cPanel which is quite hard to find all those files. The content were on Flickr and Youtube so I could locate them easily to delete them.

Bluehost reactivated my account promptly after the removal. The reason why it took so long was because I had to wait until their Terms of Service department goes to work.

My thoughts on Copyright

I've friends who publish books and I know it's a tremendous effort to get books published.

On Parka Blogs, I make a very conscious effort not to violate the Copyright of publishers and authors because I respect their work and effort.

I do understand Copyright and how it works. Duplication of work if you're not the Copyright owner is illegal. Period. There are no exceptions except one limitation that is the doctrine of "fair use" (wikipedia.org). Work reproduced "may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research". That is the case for reviews.

On Parka Blogs, you'll notice that

  • Photos of pages that I present is usually 10-20% of the book.
  • Videos run for 1 minute and 30 seconds, and the pages are flipped, usually the book is not laid flat.
  • I respond quickly to authors who don't want pictures/videos of their book appearing on the blog. I will take them down with no questions asked.
  • I don't respond to requests for book scans.

This should give you an idea of why I don't post more pictures.

So to publishers and authors who don't want to see their books featured here, just contact me and I will remove them. I remember having to do that once because one author was afraid to that it would make his/her publisher unhappy even though I was the one writing the review, putting up the pictures.

And to publishers and authors who wish to see their books featured here, you can contact me also. Featuring your books on Parka Blogs is free. It's always great to show good work to a wider audience.

Alright, it's time for me to get back to work.

PS: The next time you see something amiss, you can visit my Twitter page or Google+ page to find out what's wrong.

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44 Comments

parka...

parka...
just stay on course - this blog is a good one and blind copyrightsecuringactivism by companies is a thing which will hopefully not increase in future.
yeehaa!
more books - more parka!
thats what i like :)

c.

I'm a book-fiend (especially

I'm a book-fiend (especially of art books) and I frequent your site for ideas. I currently own four of Miyazaki's "Art of Books..." because of the reviews from your site (and they've saved me from many boring rainy days).
What Kodansha Limited did just seems sort of petty. Don't they have better things to do? :X
Keep doing what you're because art-lovers from all over the world rely on the thorough and thoughtful reviews that you provide on your site. Thank you! :)

Stupid F*cks!

Stupid F*cks!
I love watching this blog.
I have especially bought many books right after reading and seeing a review of their content here at Parka. I have never regretted about a purchase because I always knew what I was buying, thanks to you.

As I posted on your G+ page,

As I posted on your G+ page, this is atrocious over-reaching. You are clearly posting fair use reviews and not "scans". Because of your site and your site alone, I've bought over $250 worth of art books of various types (mostly Japanese, too).

I think to prevent other idle low-level middle management wannabes from doing the same, you might want to put an information link in the top bar (Maybe simply "日本語") where it takes you to a page which clearly explains, in Japanese:
* Your site is for reviews only
* Fair use policy
* Your scanning/video review policy
* Testaments from us that they make sales because of your blog.
...followed by your Japanese translated review stream.

Basically get in front of the issue before it hits you again.

Maybe one of the translators in the audience could assist here?

These corporations are just

These corporations are just stupid.
The only reason I bought most of my art books is because of your blog and the exposure it gives me of these products.
If they're so retarded that they'd rather lose money than gain some then they'll get what they deserve.

Keep it up!

They don't understand that a

They don't understand that a blog like yours it's very good for their publication.
Personally I bought many books through your blog that I maybe never bought if I couldn't see the inside of the books.
In 2 month I bought more than 500$ of books by your blog.
Keep it up Parka !

That's pretty ignorant of

That's pretty ignorant of them. Your reviews have prompted me to make many purchases, and probably with everyone as well. And you are my primary source in discovering amazing art books. It's their loss if they don't want their books reviewed and their loss not wanting you to promote sales of their books.

Add me to the list of people

Add me to the list of people that have spent hundreds of dollars on art books based on your reviews. It's actually very rare that I will buy an art book if it ISN'T reviewed on here (with pictures and video). This is very short sighted of them.

How utterly ridiculous, your

How utterly ridiculous, your reviews are always really balanced and fair. To any publishers I would point out I have purchased many books after reading your reviews. In fact I check your web page every day to see what new books are available. In the digital age any publisher who cannot recognise the service you are offering are likely to miss out on the advantage of increased sales. Carry on the good work.

This is pretty short-sighted

This is pretty short-sighted of the publishers, but it does remind me of the concerns we have in the US over the SOPA and PIPA bills (which in essence would allow a company to shut your site down for posting any copyrighted material). Let's hope it doesn't come to that for reviews.

I hope the best for you and

I hope the best for you and Parka Blogs. Your hard work have prompted me to purchase a lot of books for me and the readers of my blog. I don't understand that actions, but the companies didn't realice the real value of the free publicity you are making.

This is a bit rediculous.

This is a bit rediculous. Your blog has single handedly caused me to spend way more money on art books than I'd ever intended not only on local books (amazon.com stuff) to international purchases with mega shipping costs attached.

If it weren't for your blog I wouldn't have known about many of the non-local books I've purchased over the last year.

I think they're being silly, I'd argue that you're helping sales, not hurting them.

Best,

Austin

If that SOPA bill had passed,

If that SOPA bill had passed, I assure you this kinda thing would become very common and sites like yours would be at risk of getting shut down despite not even sharing a book in its entirety in any way.

Before everyone sharpens

Before everyone sharpens their pitchforks, just remember that sometimes the "legal" side of a company just plain doesn't understand new technology or social media. This was probably just the case of someone doing the job their supposed to do, and not even necessarily reflective of the company's stance on such copyright issues. Obviously book previews are great, and I've bought books purely because of reviews seen here. And I'm sure the company feels that way too, but this is just a case of "red tape" if you will getting in the way.

....woow....I didn't expect

....woow....I didn't expect that to happen to parkablogs...ever...gah..Anyways,everyone visiting this site understands what wonderful services this site does for artbooks, so I won't elaborate on that.

On a side note, Katsuhiro Otomo has been active lately (which is probably the reason for this post), an 8 page manga for Geijutsu Shincho and he's having an exibition "Otomo Katsuhiro GENGA Exhibition" AND there's an Accompanying Book with the exhibit(200+ pages).

But I take it, that won't be reviewed here with all the helpful pictures....

Stupid , stupid, stupid. What

Stupid , stupid, stupid. What kind of publisher would not want publicity and increased sales of their books? I have several books that I would not have bought if they had not been reviewed on this site. If I was one of Kodansha Limited's authors I'd be furious. I think someone needs to be fired.

You've turned me on to quite

You've turned me on to quite a few beautiful books that I might never have even heard of if not for this site. Any publisher that's too stupid to realize what an asset your reviews are deserves to go out of business!

I'm joining to the support

I'm joining to the support voices about your work, copyright holders are paranoid and shortsighted to see the benefits to get noticed [for free] about their publications by your blog.
Keep going.

I don't suppose anyone has a

I don't suppose anyone has a contact address for Kodansha's publicity and/or legal department? If so, I'd love to have it.

I don't know the laws in the country in which Parka resides, but in the U.S. we have a legal tenet called "fair use", which allows the use of otherwise copyrighted material for educational purposes. What Kodansha has done is tantamount to illegal harassment and Parka could counter-sue for website downtime, "loss of face", etc.

This has also hit some internet celebrities, like That Guy with the Glasses and Confused Matthew, who has been bullied into removing reviews featuring static or moving copyrighted content. The only reason they relented was because of the enormous political and legal power wielded by super-companies, like Disney and Paramount. However, the latter were obviously in the wrong.

This should be fought. There are several legal defense funds set up in the U.S. for exactly this sort of nonsense. Parka deserves redress for this grievance.

I'm actually surprised that

I'm actually surprised that it didn't happen sooner.

In this day and age (love that phrase), pubs, and some authors, get a little too twitchy with their lawyers and take-down notices. Also the newer presented bills like SOPA, PIPA, etc, are getting so draconian and giving so much power to pubs that it's getting ridiculous.

It also doesn't make too much sense since you are giving them FREE PUBLICITY.

Anyway, keep up the great work. I love the reviews and even bought some of books with your presented links.

j

This blog is a great artbook

This blog is a great artbook-review source. I allways look here before buying expensive artbooks. This blog made me buy 20 artbooks I wouldn´t have even recognized - and the descision to buy was totaly driven by watching your uploaded photos.

Well, I'll definitely not buy

Well, I'll definitely not buy any Japanese books from those publishers then. It's useless to promote them. Thank you for this blog. I always check this blog before I buy a book and I do use your links even when I'm not buying art books. Keep up the good work or I'll miss out on good books. Just don't do those publishers who don't like what you are doing. It's their loss.

I think the fuss about

I think the fuss about copyright is all about Money.
Otomo didn't come complaining the "voilation" of his right,
it's always the ones who's making profit out of the authors are taking severe actions
, while the real owner of the art has nothing to say about it.

And now they are passing laws to further protecting their "right",
What a shame.

It's silly, I actually bought

It's silly, I actually bought the Kaba 2 book after seeing it here. I've literally spent thousands of euros on artbooks I've seen here. I'd be elated if someone made such detailed movies and blog posts on my books if I were a publisher.

I had the same thing happen

I had the same thing happen to me once (the whole get it taken down without any contact and letting me get a chance to rectify the issue). It's total BS. Screw that company, you were doing them a favor by getting their books out there with enough info to let us know if we wanted to buy it. I wouldn't help a company like that again in the future.

A pretty stupid overreaction.

A pretty stupid overreaction. I wonder if these guys even understand how much value a blog like yours is for publishers. I bought well over 50 books based on your reviews. Many of them I would have probably missed if it would not have been for this blog. Keep on the great work. And legal departments of publishers, think twice next time.

I said you had the right to

I said you had the right to publish those pictures because it is 'fair use' but a video of flipping through the pages doesn't fall under 'fair use'. I also think you posted too much images of the book. I appreciate it a lot that you are running this blog, it's great to get an idea of how a book looks of the inside. But they have a point serving you with copyright violation, sadly :(

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