IMSLP under attack by Music Publishers Association (UK)

[imslp]

IMSLP is currently under an extraordinarily underhanded legal attack by the Music Publishers Association of UK (http://mpaonline.org.uk).

The MPA, without notifying us, sent to our domain registrar GoDaddy a bogus DMCA takedown notice. GoDaddy took the entire IMSLP.ORG domain down. IMSLP has filed a DMCA counter notice with GoDaddy, however, the DMCA seems to require the registrar to wait no less than 10 days before restoring service. This means that IMSLP is inaccessible from IMSLP.ORG during this period of time. We will be working to restore service as soon as possible.

What is the MPA complaining about? Rachmaninoff's Bells, which is public domain both in Canada and the USA: http://petruccilibrary.org/wiki/The_Bel ... _Sergei%29 MPA's claim is entirely bogus.

Workaround: You can still reach the site by using either petruccilibrary.org or petruccimusiclibrary.org Note, however, that some links on the site that refer to IMSLP.ORG may be broken; you will have to manually replace IMSLP.ORG with one of the two above domain names manually in the URL bar.

Anyone who is interested in suing or helping to sue the MPA under DMCA section 512(f) (misrepresentations) please contact me at imslproject <at> yahoo.ca. Note that the feldmahler <at> imslp.org address is likewise offline.

The following is the e-mail that GoDaddy received from the MPA. IMSLP / Project Petrucci LLC grants everyone permission to reproduce it in part or in its entirety. I also grant everyone permission to reproduce the above post in part or in its entirety. Please feel free to make this incident as widely known as possible.

Dear sirs

We, the Music Publishers Association, take action to remove unlicensed
copyright material from infringing websites.

We understand that Godaddy are the sponsoring registrar for the website
http://www.IMSLP.ORG which makes available unlicensed copyright protected sheet
music notation which is an infringement of copyright. By assisting this
website, Godaddy are liable to pay damages for secondary copyright
infringement once notice of the infringement has been given.

We therefore request that you withdraw from all associations you have
with http://www.IMSLP.ORG and retract their
domain name so that the website cannot be accessed.

An example of the infringing material on http://www.IMSLP.ORG is 'The Bells' by
Rachmaninov which can be reached via:

http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Bells,_Op.35_ ... f,_Sergei)
http://216.129.110.22/files/imglnks/usi ... score_.pdf

This material is copyright protected in most counties including all
European countries and the USA.

Here are the registrant's details to the best of our knowledge:

Registrant Name:Edward W. Guo
Registrant Organization:Project Petrucci LLC
Registrant Street1:205 S. Charles St.
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Edwardsville
Registrant State/Province:Illinois
Registrant Postal Code:62025
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.6186565143
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email: imslproject@yahoo.ca

We have good faith belief that use of the material in this manner is not
authorized by the copyright owner or the law.

The information in this notification is accurate and we confirm, under
penalty of perjury, that we are authorized to act on behalf of the
copyright owner of an exclusive right of that is infringed.

I would be grateful for your response detailing your undertakings by 3
May 2011.

Yours faithfully,

Jake Kirner
Printed Music Publishing Administrator
Music Publishers Association
6th Floor, British Music House, 26 Berners Street, London W1T 3LR
Direct Tel: +44 (0)20 7637 4052
Fax: +44 (0)20 7637 3929 (please confirm fax by sending me an email)
jkirner@mpaonline.org.uk <mailto:jkirner@mpaonline.org.uk>
http://www.mpaonline.org.uk <http://www.mpaonline.org.uk/>
the_MPA on twitter <http://twitter.com/the_MPA>

[imslp]

Carolus has provided an excellent analysis of the copyright issue in this case: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4774

[deathgleaner]

Those bitches how dare they!

It's kind of like what happened to Wikileaks. Remember when Wikileaks got attacked, and then Wikileaks loyalists began DDos-ing MasterCard and PayPal sites? Yea, we should get a group of loyalists or the guys at 4chan to completely bombard whoever is flooding up IMSLP with endless DDos. That'll show them !

Edit: At least IMSLP is back now. Thank god those british publishing freaks withdrew their attack on IMSLP and that IMSLP is beefing up security measures to prevent another attack. Curse to hell on those British publishers and good job IMSLP tech people.

And about British Music publishing companies: I've never bought any music from them and I don't ever plan to (especially after the attacks). There's a world of music publishing out there that don't do what MPA just did.

[Kidd Cabbage]

How can we help?

[Eric]

deathgleaner- far be it for(?) me to be the voice of reason about something, but- I think ...

no.

[Philidor]

Lots of activity and support on twitter about this. Easy to be wise after the event but strategically this shows the importance of having a kick-ass domain name registrar who won't be intimidated or become hysterical at the sight of a take down notice. It's not sufficient to self-host or employ a muscular ISP. A weak domain name registrar can bring the whole pack of cards crashing down, and keep it down for 10 days.

I'd be interested to hear a lawyer on the Godaddy legal position. MPA's behaviour is analogous to threatening the driving licensing authorities with a damages claim if they don't withdraw the driving license from someone involved in civil litigation. Or threatening Somerset House with a damages claim if they don't cancel the birth certificate of someone facing civil litigation.

If internet registrars are to be held legally responsible for what the owners of domain names do with those names, the world will need about ten million extra lawyers! Why didn't Godaddy tell the MPA to sling their hook? Bad show.

[Choralia]

Workaround: You can still reach the site by using either petruccilibrary.org or petruccimusiclibrary.org Note, however, that some links on the site that refer to IMSLP.ORG may be broken; you will have to manually replace IMSLP.ORG with one of the two above domain names manually in the URL bar.

For those having some computer skills, you may add the following line to your local hosts file:

184.107.161.242 imslp.org

This resolves the domain name imslp.org locally on your computer, so your browser is directed straight to the server and you will not need to manually replace any URLs. It's a complete bypass of the domain name suspension.

Under Windows the hosts file is typically located in the the Windows/System32/drivers/etc directory. It requires administrator privileges for editing, so you have to open Programs --> Accessories then right-click Notepad and select "Run as administrator". I guess that similar procedures apply under MAC OS, Linux, etc. .

Max

[Eric]

hrm. haven't used chmod in yea long and took awhile to figure out how to do that without risking wrecking my Mac OS X but got it. thanks! (it's in the same place, /etc/hosts .)

[gardano]

hrm. haven't used chmod in yea long and took awhile to figure out how to do that without risking wrecking my Mac OS X but got it. thanks! (it's in the same place, /etc/hosts .)

In MacOSX, just do this in terminal:

sudo vi /etc/hosts
(or if you have textmate): sudo mate /etc/hosts

....no need for chmod. :¬)

[Philidor]

I've received an email from Jake Kirner at the Music Publishers Association asking me to remove his take down email to GoDaddy from the IMSLP Journal. My reply:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: PLease remove published email
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:15:58 +0100
From: IMSLP Journal Editor <editors@imslpjournal.org>
Reply-To: editors@imslpjournal.org
Organisation: IMSLP Journal
To: Jake Kirner <jkirner@mpaonline.org.uk>
CC: imslproject@yahoo.ca


Dear Jake,

Thanks for your email. I'm sorry, I want to be helpful, but everyone's been given permission to reproduce your takedown email, in part or in its entirety. See here:

The following is the e-mail that GoDaddy received from the MPA. IMSLP / Project Petrucci LLC grants everyone permission to reproduce it in part or in its entirety. I also grant everyone permission to reproduce the above post in part or in its entirety. Please feel free to make this incident as widely known as possible.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4775#p24690

If you provide me with a good reason why, having been given written permission to publish your email, I must now remove it, please let me know and I'll remove it immediately.

I note that one of the receipients of your 21/04/2011 11:23 email is feldmahler@imslp.org. Because you caused, via a bogus DMCA takedown notice, imslp.org to be removed from the internet, that email address will not work. To contact imslp.org use this email address: imslproject@yahoo.ca.

Best wishes,

[Philidor]

A further email exchange with Mr Kirner. He repeated his demand that his takedown email to GoDaddy be removed from the IMSLP Journal. My reply:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Please remove published email
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:07:30 +0100
From: IMSLP Journal Editor <editors@imslpjournal.org>
Reply-To: editors@imslpjournal.org
Organisation: IMSLP Journal
To: Jake Kirner <jkirner@mpaonline.org.uk>
CC: imslproject@yahoo.ca


Jake,

I've written permission to publish it. Others are publishing it all over the internet. Again, they each have written permission. Here's the sourced written permission:

The following is the e-mail that GoDaddy received from the MPA. IMSLP / Project Petrucci LLC grants everyone permission to reproduce it in part or in its entirety. I also grant everyone permission to reproduce the above post in part or in its entirety. Please feel free to make this incident as widely known as possible.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4775#p24690

Seriously, you can't expect to take down a major website, with a bogus DMCA takedown notice, and then try and hide the evidence. Can you see that? It makes you look ridiculous.

[sigma]

Maybe you should inform this Jake guy about the Streisand effect.

[Irishmaestro]

This is pathetic. It's quite obvious why they're doing it, too:- Rachmaninov enters the PD in the EU on January 1, 2014, and they're trying to squeeze every last drop of money out of people for his work before their legal entitlement to do so is taken away.

So, because of one composer who may or may not be in the PD, the work of every composer who died before 1940 is taken away from people - even though they have a perfect legal entitlement to access it for free! I despair of publishers - greedy, thoughtless and underhanded people.

EDIT: The fact that they want the take-down notice removed makes their motives so much clearer. Clearly, they realise what an underhanded (and surely illegal??) act they've committed, and they are afraid of the general public finding out.

[faust]

I despair of publishers - greedy, thoughtless and underhanded people.

cross-posted, but: this isn't a publisher suing-- this is the Music Publishers' Association of the UK, a trade group that has no business in publishing living composers. Actual publishers devote a majority of their efforts and time to publishing, promoting, and protecting living composers who choose to use the standard, legal copyright system instead of other modes of licensing (Creative Commons, etc.). There is absolutely nothing wrong with CC licenses, and in fact I support them; but as long as composers and their estates want to adopt the (stagnant, irritating, ultimately moribund) current copyright laws, it's their right until we can get those laws changed.

Their lawsuit is frivolous, but please don't turn this in to an ad hominem attack against music publishers and composers who want their protections under current law.

[andrewt]

Just posted a link to this thread on facebook