LendInk EBook Lending Service Returns, Receives Fishy DMCA Notice 43
Ian Lamont writes "Remember LendInk, the legitimate ebook lending community that got knocked offline at the beginning of August by a mob of misguided authors? The site's owner, Dale Porter, received a lot of support after the story went viral and last week was able to reactivate the site and his affiliate accounts with Amazon and Barnes & Noble."
The owner reportedly received a DMCA notice immediately, but a few folks dug and it appears that the "lawyer" who issued it is no lawyer at all, and probably an Internet troll (evidence includes not being listed as a lawyer in PA, using a home address, and sending the takedown from gmail). Or just a really bad lawyer.
He's "For Hire" (Score:5, Informative)
probably an Internet troll (evidence includes not being listed as a lawyer in PA, using a home address, and sending the takedown from gmail)
I guess it's possible that this is the lawyer we're talking about [padisciplinaryboard.org] who has changed his name to something more official sounding like "Hank St. James" or uses that version in litigation to avoid repercussions. It's also possible that Hank James is just a really common name but Wilkes Barre and Pottsville are pretty close to each other.
Anyway, I dug up a few other things. Here's an article sort of heralding his efforts [ereads.com] as a "piracy exterminator for hire." Here he is leaving comments on a complaint board [complaintboard.com] against infiniread.
I'm pretty sure this is his MO to generate revenue: 1) find registered copyrighted books on small websites. 2) make sure the site's owners don't have any money. 3) send take down notice. 4) upon failure to remove material, THEN contact the copyright holder and offer them your services for a price. 5) pretend nothing happened if site did, indeed, have the rights to host or sell copyrighted material.
Isn't that all indicated by his phrase "I have a good faith belief that..."?
On the facebook page (Score:5, Informative)
On the facebook page there's a link to this:
http://ereads.com/2010/03/book-ripped-off-who-you-gonna-call-pirate-sinker.html [ereads.com]
So it appears the guy is likely not a kid trolling and is presenting himself as an attorney. Whether or not he's licensed to practice as one is another question.
You can check attorney's registered to practice in PA on the state Supreme Court's website:
http://www.padisciplinaryboard.org/pa_attorney_search.php [padisciplinaryboard.org]
It's possible that he's admitted to the bar somewhere else though. Of course the guy who owns the site could email and ask for details of his bar admission(s).
Re:falsification? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Test ad (Score:4, Informative)
Or better yet, stop posting as AC and get enough karma on slashdot to turn off ads.