PSA - EBOOKS-TREE

[shenshen77]

There's been some fic-theft on AO3, FFN and a few other archive type sites. The company is making money through ads and selling authors access to their own fics.

This is from http://www.isfanficlegal.com/:

We’ve been getting pings and @’s all morning about ebooks-tree.com who seem to be scraping/taking stories off of AO3 and hosting them as PDFs and mobi downloads on their site; the site seems to be pulling from UrBookLibrary as well. They’re not reading your “do not copy/duplicate” notes on your AO3 fic; their bots are pulling things directly from AO3, without AO3′s authorization or assent. It looks like they are pulling from Wattpad too, again without authorization or assent.

While the Ebooks-Tree DMCA page seems to imply that you need a lawyer or other “authorized person” to submit a takedown notice, you don’t; you can do it yourself.

As we’ve posted before, fanfic writers hold copyright in their stories, although not in lines/quotes from the works they’ve been inspired by, and because of that, fanfic writers can submit DMCA takedown notices, or have someone do it on their behalf. While this post isn’t legal advice (none of our posts on FYC are), you might want to consider using this template (well, the bolded bits) in telling ebooks-tree to take down your content:

Your Name and/or Pseudonym as an e-signature (or the name of the person you’ve authorized to submit this request, with a slash before it and after it):
Link(s) to the unauthorized works (link to the pdf, the mobi and the page hosting all of it):
Link(s) to an authorized version of your work (whether on AO3, tumblr, LJ or somewhere else):
An email address of the submitter (include it again even if it’s in the header):
This statement: I have good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
This statement: The information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

That’s it - that’s all they need to know - you can submit all the info via http://www.ebooks-tree.com/info.php?contacts with DMCA Complaint in the subject; you may wish to submit the same content to Google via this page, or to BING via this page.

ETA: If you try to read  your own fics, they require you to sign up via a site called http://www.lazygame.net/ (lazygamenet on Twitter, corporate name is KH Media LLC of Delaware, their phone number is listed as the contact number for a bunch of different companies) and give your credit card info; we think that’s probably a very bad idea. You can send the same DMCA info to them at support@lazygame.net but it’s unclear whether they have the ability to remove anything from the ebooks-tree site. We called LazyGame directly and they said they are not affiliated with ebooks-tree but they are affiliated with TzarMedia, which seems to be some sort of back-end for ebooks-tree. Fwiw, TzarMedia isn’t doing well on the whole “trustworthy site” thing.

TzarMedia claims that “All TzarMedia content is licensed and legal for distribution and use.” We wonder what the FTC would say about that kind of false advertising.

This is way bigger than someone using a bot to pull fics; this is infringement in so many different ways.

(Fwiw, even though ebooks-tree claims that they comply with the Copyright Act, they aren’t compliant with the DMCA Safe Harbor rules, as they aren’t listed on the copyright.gov list of agents.)

You can also submit a complaint about ebooks-tree to CloudFlare, who hosts the site. Their DMCA page is at https://www.cloudflare.com/abuse/form - as a matter of law you do not need to include the legal name of the copyright claimant/the fanfic writer, but  you should include the pseudonym that the fic was posted under if you don’t want to include a legal name or address.

UPDATE FROM THIS POST ON TUMBLR:

How to get your works removed (according to ebooks-tree):

Lots of people have said they’re going to write to them.  I did, and sent a letter to their ‘Contacts’ link, which would seem to make sense, but that’s not going to do you any good - it has to be in a certain format before they’ll do anything with it.

You need to go into their DCMA link.  A lot of language there is designed to make it seem daunting, labor-intensive, expensive (no, you do not need a lawyer), or damn-near impossible to get your works removed.  Don’t be cowed.  quicklikelight looked it over and this is essentially what we need to write (change the details, of course!):
———————-
(according to OTW, AO3 and fuckyeahcopyright, “as a matter of law you do not need to include the legal name of the copyright claimant/the fanfic writer, but  you should include the pseudonym that the fic was posted under if you don’t want to include a legal name or address.”)

My name is [name] and I am the author and owner of the following works:

-        “Of Hunters and Wolves” by “Quicklikelight”
-        “In the Woods” by “Quicklikelight”
-        “This is a Gift” by “AnneinColor”
These are my intellectual property. I do not give you or anyone else permission to offer these works for download, and I did not consent for them to be available on your website. I am requesting that you remove them immediately. I can be reached by e-mail at [e-mail].
This information is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, I am authorized to act on my own behalf as the owner of this material.

Signed,
[Name]

——————–

Cut and paste that into their contact form and make sure that you make the subject line read: “DMCA Complaint” or they won’t process it.

They said that the requests can take ‘up to a week’ for an email response.  Now that’s a *response*, not necessarily a removal.  I have a feeling these jerks are going to try and throw as many obstacles in the way as possible.  Once someone gets a response and can share it, we’ll feel our way forward from there.  The more of us who demand to have our works taken down, the better.

They did and it sucks, because now you have to get cracking. You should definitely check if your stuff has been taken. You should also consider updating your disclaimers against use by anyone else without your consent. This would be especially relevant if you post your fics on any archiving site.

Good luck, everyone!

Comments

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they got 15 of mine. I'm not great on the iPad (linking is an issue...) and so will have to wait til my Mac comes back to send my "cease and desist" notice. But it will be a rocket.

[shenshen77.livejournal.com]

Now I really want see what you come up with when you write to them :P Is that bad???

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

I am planning to Include words like " Internet fraud" and relevant provisions of the Budapest convention on Cybercrime, to which Russia is a Party.

[shenshen77.livejournal.com]

Bwahahaha, that should do the trick :D

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

My hubby is the Canadian guru on cybercrime, and I will ask him to contribute. It should be fun, and I may copy the RCMP if he considers that a crime was committed in which Canada has jurisdiction.

Fuck the softballs. I'm pissed off.

[shenshen77.livejournal.com]

Awesome! So they inadvertently really picked the wrong person to mess with. I'm liking it more and more. Because yup, I'm pissed as hell too!

[franztastisch]

They've got 8 of mine and two of my friends stories which I host on AO3... what the hell?

[shenshen77.livejournal.com]

It just sucks and makes no sense :/ I mean, of course, they want to make money, they don't want to share and they don't care about screwing people over. Asshats, all of them.

[inkvoices]

I got a heads up about this today and was linked to where they had some of my fics - which, really people, of all the fics and also NO you can't change people for fanfic that was given freely that had no right to steal in the first place - but when i've gotten home to check which ones it was again and do the advised contact form thing it appears that my stolen works have...vanished. Has this happened to anyone else? Have they received so many strongly worded contacts already that they've backpeddled (here's hoping)?

[shenshen77.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, I just checked my username and it seems that all my works that had been stolen have disappeared as well. I also checked a few other's and they're gone too. I guess all the harsh words paid off :)

[franztastisch]

Just checked mine too, and they've gone as well. Good!

[shenshen77.livejournal.com]

Yes! I'm glad it's over. And I hope that it wasn't a phishing expedition and that not too many people got that paid account to check their works... :/

[franztastisch]

God yeah, that would be awful. :/

Do we think we should tell alphaflyer? Or should we let her rain down retribution regardless? I kinda like option two. :P

[inkvoices]

I also kinda like option two *grins* so long as she's not wasting her time.

[franztastisch]

Btw, I'm side eyeing you very hard over on my journal. YOU TERRIBLE ENABLER YOU. :P

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

I like the Black Rain option, but I won't bother if it's not necessary as it involves some legal gymnastics (jurisdictional issues). I'll check if my stuff is gone.

[franztastisch]

BAH. I WANTED YOUR RIGHTEOUS FURY.

Still, this is a good development.

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

Just checked, and my stuff is gone too. AO3 must have waved a Big Stick, is my guess.

[franztastisch]

Well, good for AO3.

[shenshen77.livejournal.com]

I checked earlier and it's all gone. But you know, we would have cheered you on down the path of righteous fury :D

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

Your confidence is humbling. :-)

Frankly, I would have enjoyed it, but now I can write instead...

[shenshen77.livejournal.com]

Hehehe, that is an even better development :)

[inkvoices]

We are many and we are vocal, hell yeah :D

[shenshen77.livejournal.com]

That we are! I'm glad it's over :D