ssmith_1187 said:
Below is the response I got back from The Mouse Factory.
Jack, you're a SLIME BALL!!!!
****************************************************
Date: Thursday, October 18, 2007 6:53 AM
From: Edna <
[email protected]>
To:
[email protected]
Subject: Re: Plagiarized Photos
Size: 3 KB
Dear Mr. Smith,
Thanks for the e mail but I already knew about this. Unfortunately with out
expensive lawyers there
is nothing I can do. I did call them and they hung up on me as soon they
heard who I was.
Regards,
Edna Queen
Actually, she doesn't need an expensive lawyer at all, presuming she took the photos in question (copyright is generally granted on such things at the moment of creation, unless assigned via a work-for-hire situation or similar).
The Digital Millenium Copyright Act -- 17 USC 512(c), available at
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html -- allows for her to file a takedown with the service provider, via email. Every (US-based) provider is required to maintain a designated agent for service of DMCA takedown notices with the US Copyright Office in order to maintain safe harbour status under the provisions of the law.
17 USC 512(c)(3)(A) lists the information she'd need to provide to the service provider in order for her report to be considered complete under the DMCA. It's fairly straight-forward, insofar as most anyone can figure out how to file it properly, and there are a bunch of fill-in-the-blank type forms on the 'net that she can use if she doesn't want to wade through the law itself to figure out exactly what she needs. That said, for a piece of law, the requirements are also really easily digested by the average person.
Upon receipt of a complete DMCA takedown notice, the provider is required to 'expeditiously' remove or disable access to the material in question. The person who placed the material in question is entitled under the act to file a counter notification, stating under penalty of perjury that they believe they have a legal right to use the material in the manner they are doing so. The counter notification must include their full name, address, telephone number, and a statement that the individual consents to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court.
Ms. Queen doesn't need a lawyer for any of this, nor does she need to have registered the copyright on the photos in question with the US Copyright Office. Doing so, I believe, provides her the ability to seek punitive as well as actual damages in Federal District Court should it come to that and she decide to take it that far, but not registering the copyright doesn't negate the copyright itself.
Disclaimer: I Am Not A Lawyer, This Is Not Legal Advice. I have, however, been dealing with the provider end of the DMCA process for the better part of the last 5 years.
I just looked on both sites . I checked on a bunch of different pics and ALL the ones I checked were identical !!!! Has anyone let the mouse factory know of this yet ? Jack must have really created a "buzz" for his company 
he has a banner that says Due to overwelming demand their out of stock on everything except large and jumbo rats lol !! I think that buzz is all his former customer's leaving !!
Not someone I will ever buy from again .
