Comics and webtoon titan Toomics recently made headlines for an unusual blunder—submitting DMCA takedown requests against its own website. This comic mixup highlights growing issues around DMCA abuse and overzealous copyright enforcement. For creators and audiences alike, it underscores the need to modernize systems balancing copyright protections with fair use in the digital age.
The Wild World of Copyright Law
Copyright law seems like it should be simple, but involves complex rules and limitations. At its core, copyright grants creators exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, display, perform, and adapt their works. This control incentivizes producing more art, media, and culture.
But copyright law also recognizes that new works build on existing ones. Fair use provisions allow for limited educational, commentary, parody, news, and research uses of copyrighted content without permission. For example, reviewing a book excerpt or criticizing a movie clip qualifies as fair use, not infringement.
Over the decades, lawmakers have repeatedly updated copyright statutes to keep pace with technological change. Today‘s digital environment makes copying and remixing easier than ever, challenging laws meant for older media. For instance, relatively new practices like memes, livestreams, and video game playthroughs exist in murky legal territory regarding fair use versus infringement.
The Rise of DMCA Takedowns
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) passed in 1998 established procedures for enforcing copyright online. It introduced notice and takedown provisions enabling rights holders to request removal of unauthorized content.
If you operate a website, blog, video platform, or image hosting service, you’ve likely dealt with DMCA notices. Copyright holders or their agents can submit these requests to delist, disable access to, or remove allegedly infringing materials from your domain.failure to comply puts you at risk for legal action.
DMCA takedown requests have skyrocketed in the Internet era. Image credit: Jonathan Bailey
In theory, the DMCA takedown process provides balanced copyright enforcement. But in practice, the system is routinely misused to suppress non-infringing content.
DMCA Abuse Runs Rampant
Studies by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), American University, and other groups expose widespread DMCA notice abuse. Reasons range from overzealousness to outright censorship:
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Mistargeting fair use: News sites, reviewers, researchers, and creators often have works removed despite clear fair use rights.
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Targeting competitor sites: Rival companies submit unfounded claims against each other.
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Going after non-infringing links: DMCA notices demanding search delistings frequently target pages that don’t even host copyrighted content.
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Censoring unfavorable content: Public figures and companies silence criticism and negative news coverage.
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Fraudulent claims: Scammers file fake requests using other’s copyrights to profit off affiliate marketing.
One EFF study reviewing a sample of DMCA requests found 37% targeted likely fair use. Over a third of notices displayed characteristics of fraudulent abuse.
Clearly, the DMCA provides an avenue for suppressing speech far beyond piracy. Even copyright holders themselves fail to properly target infringement in some cases…
When Toomics Targeted Its Own Site
This brings us back to the curious case of Toomics. The Korean webtoon giant accidentally requested its own URLs be delisted from search results over copyright claims.
Specifically, Toomics submitted DMCA notices against chapters of its "Sweet Bitter Love" and "You Have the Wrong Person" comics distributed on its site. The provenance marker tags in the requests confirm they originated from Toomics.
One of Toomics‘ DMCA requests against its own site. Image credit: Lumen Database
This apparent mixup highlights how even legitimate publishers fail to properly target infringement claims. If rights holders themselves bungle notices, imagine the potential for abuse.
Real-World Impacts of DMCA Misuse
Though Toomics‘ error was likely unintentional, faulty DMCA takedowns can severely harm site owners:
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Search delistings slash traffic and revenue. Losing rankings means huge losses in visits and income. This disproportionately affects smaller sites lacking resources to remediate unfair requests.
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Recovering from inaccurate claims takes time and money. Site owners must file counternotices and potentially consult lawyers. Days to months of business disruption ensues.
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There are few repercussions for bad faith takedowns. At worst, abusers face potential perjury claims almost never pursued.
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Fair use works get suppressed. Beyond financial harms, free speech and cultural exchange suffer when non-infringing materials are removed.
One egregious example involved an activist site critical of the Church of Scientology. After publishing leaked church documents clearly constituting fair use, the site faced waves of DMCA takedowns. Despite successfully fighting the improper requests, the site sustained major losses and eventually closed down.
This underscores the chilling effects of DMCA misuse—fair use works often disappear because owners lack resources to defend hosting them.
Rebalancing Copyright Interests
So where does this leave publishers, creators, site owners, and audiences? How can we uphold copyright protections while enabling fair uses that expand culture and knowledge?
Balanced pathways forward center on:
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Modernizing laws to align with digital realities, including more penalties for bad faith DMCA abuse
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Educating rights holders on judiciously enforcing claims without overreach
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Stronger pushback on invalid notices from site owners and advocates
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Advancing automation to detect blatant fair use cases like news commenting on content
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Increased oversight and transparency around takedown processes and data
Finding the right balance between copyright and fair use. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
This landscape involves competing interests, but solutions upholding both creative control and cultural freedom exist. As entities like Toomics itself experience overzealous copyright enforcement, hopefully this spurs positive change.
How can we make DMCA processes more just? What needs to shift to accommodate fair use in the digital age? I welcome your thoughts below!
