Beaded jewelry website tussle turns into lawsuit alleging bogus DMCA takedown notice

Does a hosting provider breach the contract with its customer when it responds to a DMCA takedown notice concerning its customer’s content? The plaintiff in this case would have you believe that. [Download the Complaint]

Jades Creations, LLC v. White, No. 07-50225 (N.D. Ill., Filed November 16, 2007)

Rockford, Illinois-based Jades Creations, LLC has filed suit in federal court against its competitor in the beaded jewelry industry over what Jades claims were unmeritorious takedown notices sent to Earthlink under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Back in October, SW Creations sent a DMCA takedown notice to Earthlink, the host of Jades Creations’ Web site, claiming that material located thereupon infringed SW Creations’ copyright and trademark rights. (Never mind the DMCA does not apply to trademarks.) Jades, of course, disputed the fact that there was infringing content on its site, and successfully had access to its site restored after sending Earthlink a counternotification.

But Jades didn’t stop there. Obviously perturbed by what it believed to be an unwarranted takedown notice that caused it to lose business, it filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois, asking for a declaration of non-infringement and asserting various tort claims for the takedown notice.

One of the claims is for tortious interference with the contract between Jades and her hosting provider Earthlink. This is intriguing, but it looks like there could be a bit of a hurdle here.

Under Illinois law, a successful plaintiff in a tortious interference with contract action has to prove, among other things, that an actual breach of contract occurred because of the defendant’s conduct. Belden Corp. v. InterNorth, Inc., 413 N.E.2d 98 (Ill. App. 1st Dist. 1980). Did Earthlink breach the contract with its hosting customer when it obeyed the demands of a third party DMCA takedown notice?

Jades alleges that this was a breach (see paragraph 60 of the complaint). Do you agree?

Earthlink’s terms of service can be found here. And remember, 17 U.S.C. 512(g) provides that “a service provider shall not be liable to any person for any claim based on the service provider’s good faith disabling of access to, or removal of, material or activity claimed to be infringing or based on facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent, regardless of whether the material or activity is ultimately determined to be infringing.”