{"id":58315,"date":"2021-07-24T09:01:10","date_gmt":"2021-07-24T09:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=58315"},"modified":"2021-07-24T09:01:10","modified_gmt":"2021-07-24T09:01:10","slug":"watch-tower-cant-identify-defendant-in-dubtown-copyright-suit-court-declines-to-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=58315","title":{"rendered":"Watch Tower Can\u2019t Identify Defendant in \u2018Dubtown\u2019 Copyright Suit, Court Declines to Help"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dubtown<\/a>The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, the supervising body and publisher for the Jehovah\u2019s Witness religious group, wants to put an end to the activities of a defendant known only as \u2018Kevin McFree\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018McFree\u2019 (which is presumably not his real name) is the creator of the \u2018Dubtown\u2019 series of stop-motion Lego animations that take place in a fictitious Jehovah\u2019s Witness town. <\/p>\n

In the summer of 2018, Watch Tower filed an application<\/a> for a DMCA subpoena at a New York court, demanding that YouTube\/Google should hand over his personal details based on allegations of copyright infringement.<\/p>\n

The video was removed by YouTube but McFree also mounted a defense, challenging the subpoena. Arguments centered around the fair use provisions of the DMCA but three years later the matter remains unsettled. As reported in May<\/a>, Watch Tower followed up with a full-blown copyright infringement complaint but that too has run into difficulties.<\/p>\n

Who is McFree? Watch Tower Has No Idea<\/h2>\n

In a request for conference filed with the Court, Watch Tower says McFree \u201cobtained purloined copies\u201d of then-published videos and placed clips of those works in his video posted to YouTube. This amounts to copyright infringement and warrants a permanent injunction, Watch Tower says, but the road to that currently remains uncertain. <\/p>\n

According to Watch Tower, it cannot ascertain the real identity of McFree.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe true identity and physical address of Defendant are not presently known to Plaintiff. The Infringing Video and YouTube account associated therewith identify Defendant only by the pseudonym \u2018Kevin McFree\u2019 and do not provide any physical address,\u201d Watch Tower writes.<\/p>\n

According to the religious group, it has made numerous attempts to discover McFree\u2019s personal details. Referencing the 2018 DMCA subpoena application to YouTube\/Google that requested access to McFree\u2019s real name, address, telephone number and other personal information, Watch Tower notes that the process didn\u2019t lead anywhere useful.<\/p>\n

Via pro bono counsel and without identifying himself beyond being a \u201cBritish citizen residing in the United Kingdom\u201d, McFree sought to quash the DMCA subpoena. Two years later, Judge Rom\u00e1n issued an order allowing him that opportunity. Since the motion to quash is still pending, YouTube is refusing to hand over any information.<\/p>\n

New Corresponence Proving Fruitless<\/h2>\n

After filing the copyright infringement lawsuit in May, Watch Tower said it contacted the pro bono counsel representing \u2018McFree\u2019 in the DMCA subpoena action to see if they are representing the YouTuber in this matter too. Watch Tower also asked whether McFree was prepared to waive service. <\/p>\n

Counsel advised that they are not involved in this matter so aren\u2019t in a position to waive service. McFree, for his part, refuses to disclose his identity, counsel added. This presents a problem for Watch Tower. <\/p>\n

Google has already refused to hand over any information in the DMCA subpoena matter pending the motion to quash, so the religious group believes it would be futile to make a similar request in this matter. Furthermore, it appears the Clerk of the Court will not issue a summons in the name of Kevin McFree (or John Doe) and will only issue one once the defendant\u2019s real name is known.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaintiff believes it has strong grounds to request the Court allow service on Defendant via email and would like to file a motion therefor. However, even if the Court grants a motion to allow service via email, because the Clerk will not issue a summons in the name of John Doe or in the fictitious name \u2018Kevin McFree,\u2019 Plaintiff will have no summons to serve,\u201d Watch Tower informs the Court.<\/p>\n

Watch Tower Seeks Advice on How to Proceed, Court Declines<\/h2>\n

In its request, Watch Tower seeks a conference to determine \u201cthe best way for the case to proceed\u201d. Unfortunately, Judge Cathy Seibel doesn\u2019t believe it\u2019s her place to issue advice and has denied the request.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court is not clear on what good a conference would do. If Plaintiff has a proposal for moving the case forward, it can put it in writing,\u201d Judge Seibel writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court is not inclined to give advice on that subject, nor does it have any particular ideas other than awaiting the decision from Judge Roman.\u201d<\/p>\n

After more than three years, that decision is still pending. These matters usually take just a few days to conclude.<\/p>\n

Watch Tower\u2019s (denied) request for conference can be found here<\/a> (pdf)<\/em><\/p>\n

From: TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\n

Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, the supervising body and publisher for the Jehovah\u2019s Witness religious group, wants to put an end to the activities of a defendant known only as \u2018Kevin McFree\u2019. \u2018McFree\u2019 (which is presumably not his real name) is the creator of the \u2018Dubtown\u2019 series of stop-motion Lego animations that take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torrent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}