AnyStories Drags Cloudflare to Board for Copyright Claims on Pirate Site *TorrentFreak

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Popular reading app AnyStories has filed a lawsuit against Cloudflare with the Copyright Claims Board. According to the Singaporean company, Cloudflare should be required to take action against customers who operate pirate sites, even if it does not host the content.

In June, the United States Copyright Claims Board was launched.

Through this venue, hosted by the US Copyright Office, rights holders can attempt to recover alleged damages outside of the federal court system.

More than 150 applications have been filed to date. Some of them were fired for administrative or opt-out reasons, but the board has yet to deliver its first verdict.

A few days ago, a new case was added to the growing pile of claims. It offers the popular reader app AnyStories, which allows freelance writers to share their writing publicly and earn revenue from it, versus Cloudflare.

Like any type of content published online, AnyStories content is easily copied. This is a thorn in the side of the creators of the application, the Singaporean company READ ASAP LTD, which reacted accordingly.

From Google to Cloudflare

The company sent DMCA takedown notices to Google, which removed hundreds of infringing links from its search results in response. The pirate sites themselves usually stayed online, so other measures were needed.

Hoping for a breakthrough, AnyStories also sent DMCA notices to Cloudflare, calling Infobagh.com a pirate site. Although Cloudflare provides CDN services for this site, it is not the hosting company. This means that Cloudflare generally does not intervene.

Instead, Cloudflare shared the name and contact details of the site’s hosting company (24xservice) and asked “READ ASAP” to follow up with them.

AnyStories tried, but said the email address provided to the host didn’t work. The company was unhappy with Cloudflare’s handling of the case and repeatedly asked it to do more.

“As a network service provider, you have an obligation to provide us with information to help us defend our rights. You have not provided us with valid information. Our infringement is ongoing and if you do not take action now, we will take action to protect our rights.

Threats from the Copyright Claims Commission

The app’s creators asked Cloudflare to contact the host on their behalf to ensure that the infringing content was removed.

“Please address this issue immediately, please contact the hosting provider immediately and request that they remove the offending website!!!!” READ ASAP wrote.

“If you don’t proceed with this matter now, based on the DMCA, we’ve told you multiple times, but you haven’t done your due diligence, we’ll file a claim against you directly with the Claims Commission. copyright.”

Cloudflare has no legal obligation under the DMCA to contact its customers’ hosting companies, but does provide takedown notices. However, that wasn’t enough for AnyStories, which followed up on his threats by filing a complaint with the Copyright Claims Board.

excuse me please

The claim lists an infobagh.com URL where a copy of a story called “The Silver Hope” by David Travilla Tacadena is made available. However, READ ASAP points out that violations also lead to lower revenue for other perpetrators.

With its complaint, the company hopes to stop the piracy. Also, an apology would also be appreciated.

“We hope the hacked websites will apologize to us and remove our proprietary works immediately. We have tried many ways to leave messages often without contacting the offending website. Finally, we tried to find the service provider, but they can’t give the invalid message and won’t process it,” the claim reads.

Interestingly, there is no claim for monetary damages. Additionally, the listed literary work is not yet registered with the US Copyright Office, which is required before the Copyright Claims Board can take up the case.

The above means that AnyStories still has work to do before the case can proceed and Cloudflare can always choose to opt out of the proceedings. If so, the app’s creators will need to hire an attorney and go to federal court to pursue their case.