Commons:Office actions/DMCA notices

This page in a nutshell: Sometimes the Wikimedia Foundation needs to remove content for legal reasons, in response to a request under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Such removals cannot be reversed without legal action.

This page lists notifications the Wikimedia Foundation may make of removal of content in response to a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) take-down notice. (Such notices are claims of copyright infringement.) In order to avoid legal liability ("safe harbor status") under this US law, the Foundation is required to comply with validly formulated notices even if they are spurious. Such removals are Office actions and may not be reversed. Removals can only be challenged by legal action by someone other than the Foundation. The Wikimedia Foundation may publish the take-down request at wmf:Category:DMCA.

{{DMCA takedown notice}} should be used to post a takedown notice here, and then to announce it at Commons:Village pump, pointing to the notice here. Deletion summaries of files taken down should, if possible, link to either the takedown file at wmf:Category:DMCA, or at least to this page.

For an overview of Wikimedia's policies with respect to DMCA notices, see wmf:DMCA Policy.

Responding to a DMCA take down notice In the event that material is removed due to a DMCA notice, the only recourse for restoring such material is to file a counter-notice with the Foundation. If you believe that a take-down notice which has been acted upon by the Foundation is without legal basis, please feel free to visit the following sites as a first step in learning about filing a counter-notice:

"Responding to a DMCA Takedown Notice Targeting Your Content" at Digital Media Law Project
DMCA Notices FAQ at Lumen (formerly the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse)
Sample DMCA CounterNotice letter at New Media Rights

Please note that filing a counter-notice may lead to legal proceedings between you and the complaining party to determine ownership of the material. The DMCA process requires that you consent to the jurisdiction of a United States court. All notices should be sent to the Foundation's designated agent.

2024

Fireworks at Land's End

In compliance with the provisions of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and at the instruction of the Wikimedia Foundation's legal counsel, one or more files have been deleted from Commons. Please note that this is an official action of the Wikimedia Foundation office which should not be undone. If you have valid grounds for a counter-claim under the DMCA, please contact me.

The takedown can be read here.

Affected file(s):

File: Fireworks at Land's End .jpg

Thank you! Joe Sutherland (WMF) (talk) 23:36, 1 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I nominated all images uploaded by this user: Commons:Deletion requests/Files uploaded by Ashyoung114. They have similar EXIF data that this one. Yann (talk) 00:05, 2 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

2010 Winter Olympics Canada clebrating hockey gold medal

In compliance with the provisions of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and at the instruction of the Wikimedia Foundation's legal counsel, one or more files have been deleted from Commons. Please note that this is an official action of the Wikimedia Foundation office which should not be undone. If you have valid grounds for a counter-claim under the DMCA, please contact me.

The takedown can be read here.

Affected file(s):

File: 2010 Winter Olympics Canada clebrating hockey gold medal.jpg

Thank you! Joe Sutherland (WMF) (talk) 23:51, 1 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

File log shown on page 10 of the takedown notice indicates that the upload originated on English Wikipedia. This should serve as a reminder for local file reviewers on enwiki as well as file movers that not all locally-stored files on enwiki are either eligible for Commons or not infringements or violations to others' copyrights. JWilz12345 (Talk|Contrib's.) 00:28, 2 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Autobiography of Banbhatta

In compliance with the provisions of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and at the instruction of the Wikimedia Foundation's legal counsel, one or more files have been deleted from Commons. Please note that this is an official action of the Wikimedia Foundation office which should not be undone. If you have valid grounds for a counter-claim under the DMCA, please contact me.

The takedown can be read here.

Affected file(s):

File: बाणभट्ट की आत्मकथा.pdf

Thank you! Joe Sutherland (WMF) (talk) 23:03, 10 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The book is transcribed on hiwikisource (see https://commons-delinquent.toolforge.org/index.php?image=%E0%A4%AC%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A3%E0%A4%AD%E0%A4%9F%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9F_%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%80_%E0%A4%86%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%A5%E0%A4%BE.pdf)

@JSutherland (WMF): Could you ask legal if that would also be covered under the DMCA, or if we need to find local editors to delete the pages? I'm not fluent in Hindi unfortunately. --Jonatan Svensson Glad (talk) 00:11, 11 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I will confirm. Joe Sutherland (WMF) (talk) 00:29, 11 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I nominated books written by the same author Hazari Prasad Dwivedi: Commons:Deletion_requests/Files_found_with_"हजारी_प्रसाद_द्विवेदी". SCP-2000 02:35, 11 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Done Deleted. Not public domain in India nor in USA. Proper links to Hindi Wikisource: s:hi:विषयसूची:हिंदी साहित्य का आदिकाल.pdf and s:hi:विषयसूची:हिंदी साहित्य की भूमिका.pdf. Yann (talk) 07:30, 11 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

President Joe Biden swearing in ceremony

In compliance with the provisions of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and at the instruction of the Wikimedia Foundation's legal counsel, one or more files have been deleted from Commons. Please note that this is an official action of the Wikimedia Foundation office which should not be undone. If you have valid grounds for a counter-claim under the DMCA, please contact me.

The takedown can be read here.

Affected file(s):

Thank you! Joe Sutherland (WMF) (talk) 19:39, 25 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Comment according to page 5 of the takedown order, the file is claimed to be a PD-USGov content (from U.S. Commission on Civil Rights). The claimed copyright holder, Alyssa Schukar, does not appear to have served the U.S. Commission (as it is not listed among her clients in her curriculum vitae). Unless the X account of the U.S. Commission just reposted the image for their post that was the alleged source of the alleged infringing PD-USGov file. JWilz12345 (Talk|Contrib's.) 00:12, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Here is the Commission's post on X for anyone to comment or analyze. JWilz12345 (Talk|Contrib's.) 00:14, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This photo was actually taken by Alyssa Schukar for the The Wall Street Journal (See the eighth photos in the news report). Furthermore, the second photo in the post on X was taken by Saul Loeb for AFP [1] and I will nominate this photo for deletion. No idea why US Commission did not mention the photographer. Thanks. SCP-2000 02:41, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Link of the deletion discussion: Commons:Deletion_requests/File:Kamala_Harris_oath_of_office.jpg SCP-2000 02:44, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]