Legal statement about sharing playable demos on the internet?

[Rockman]

Can someone who knows more about legal statements tell me if there is such a thing?

It's because my MediaFire account was blocked and so I can't access anything it's in there, and yeah, I know what you guys said, it's my damn fault for trusting MediaFire but I've been with MF since 2008 so I didn't thought this would ever happen.

Thanks.

 

[InsaneNutter]

I'm no lawyer but i cant honestly see you did anything wrong unless you had warez / cracked software / mp3's or movies else where on your account. Demos are supposed to be distributed for free, any sane developer would be happy for people to share them. Demos get the word of the game out there and allows people to experience it, then hopefully buy it which is the whole idea of a demo.

The problem you have is your using a service that must get 10,000's of copyright takedown requests a day, and you dont actually own the content so you cant contest the take down request. Your paying MediaFire nothing at the end of the day (or very little if you are) so its not worth there time to contest a takedown request say from Microsoft.

Its the same with YouTube, i had a video of how to update your Xbox 360 with a USB stick. This was filmed with my own camera, on my own TV / Xbox 360 using a system update publicly available on xbox.com. However as it contained video footage of the Xbox 360 dashboard, which Microsoft own the copyright for, that allowed them to make YouTube remove the video with no questions asked.

 

[Rick]

Check your email for anything regarding your mediafire account. They usually say why its been closed.

 

[Nimrod]

Difficult one, when sharing demos the copyright holder still owns all the content in the demo and its there right to say if your allowed to use it or copy it. However at the same time, they have placed it into the public domain for free download and usage so one could argue you were exercising fair usage.

But being honest, if we received a takedown request from a Publisher for a Demo, we would comply and take it down. Because ultimately it is theres. Mediafire is just treating you like other people who have received takedown notices without looking deeper into the issue and seeing you were just sharing publicly available material and not going out of your way to infringe on the ownership of others.

I know the above may not help your situation, but as Nutter has posted its a difficult one as the big sites have so many users and traffic that they cannot look at individual cases on there own merit, and just treating you like most other users who received takedowns.

If you don't mind me asking, what demos were they in question?

 

[Rockman]

It was that Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit demo (zip.001 + zip.002).

If they wanted it taken down they could've asked instead of shutting my entire account.

Here's the email:

The file "Dragon Ball Z - Burst Limit - Demo for Xbox 360.zip.001" has been suspended

Dear MediaFire User:

MediaFire has received notification under the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") that your usage of a file is allegedly infringing on the file creator's copyright protection.
The file named Dragon Ball Z - Burst Limit - Demo for Xbox 360.zip.001 is identified by the key (i98m1tf221xaqxd).
As a result of this notice, pursuant to Section 512(1) of the DMCA, we have suspended access to the file.
The reason for suspension was:

I have a good faith belief that the items or materials listed below are not authorized by the above IP Owners, their agents, or the law and therefore infringe the IP Owner's rights.​

Information about the party that filed the report:
Company Name: Remove Your Media LLC
Contact Address: 4760 Preston Rd Ste 244-227 Frisco, TX 75034
Contact Name: Eric Green
Contact Phone: 8665415173
Contact Email: infringement@removeyourmedia.com

 

[Rick]

Usually they just remove the files and the account still works. Maybe you have had too many files removed in the past?

I don't see why they would remove a demo. It's not a full game and it promotes sales of the game.

 

[Rockman]

Other than these two removals, I had a music file taken down by Toei Animation.

Meh, I don't want to get into any kind of trouble, so I'm probably best leaving it alone, unfortunately.

 

[Nimrod]

Your entitled to fill a counter-claim and the provider (MediaFire) is suppose to restore your content and notify the DMCA Requester that you counter-claim and need to settle it in a court if they wish to pursue further.

However I am honestly not in a position to advise you on the best course of action for that.

 

[Rockman]

I've been thinking and I'd take my chances at filling a counter-claim but I just don't know what kind of statement to use.

InsaneNutter's comment sounded very convicing and true.

Demos are supposed to be distributed for free, any sane developer would be happy for people to share them. Demos get the word of the game out there and allows people to experience it, then hopefully buy it which is the whole idea of a demo.

Never filled a counter-claim on MediaFire but I did on YouTube and worked fine to remove the strike from an account I used to use.

I'm seeing some possibility to get my account back and all, though, I do need some assistance, if you guys could help out any more, I don't know.

Thanks!

 

[Rockman]

I filed a counter-claim for this so I hope I'll have my account back and like I've promised them, those files will be removed permanently from my account.

Seriously, they could've asked to take them down instead of this.

 

[Rick]

I filed a counter-claim for this so I hope I'll have my account back and like I've promised them, those files will be removed permanently from my account.

Seriously, they could've asked to take them down instead of this.

After they take down some files,they usually suspend the account as well.

 

[Rockman]

Yeah, the account and the files.

On the counter-claim part of MediaFire they said within 10 days things should be resolved or something, reminds me of YouTube's copyright removals thingy.

 

[Rockman]

For whoever got their MediaFire account suspended/terminated, that's the end. Don't bother getting it back, they won't return it, and if they were to, all files would have been eliminated anyway.

Now with the new MediaFire restrictions' it's even worse (From unlimited storage to 50 GB storage / free user files are now deleted within X days) than other hosters out there, so I'd suggest JumboFiles, RapidShare, GlumboUploads or for Xbox 360 uploads here use Digiex's FTP.

I'm done with MediaFire.

 

[InsaneNutter]

Indeed, sadly you have learned the hard way nothing will be hosted free, forever online. It would be impossible for any company to make a profit if that was so.
Even dropbox have limits on how much bandwidth a files can use when been shared with others, for sharing with friends you will never hit this limit, however sharing with 100's of people you will.

The only way to guarantee your files will stay online is to store them on a dedicated server you pay for, like Digiex is hosted on. Of course that comes at a cost.