No Time to Die takedown notices sent to Bond websites

DMCA takedown notices have been sent on behalf of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to some James Bond websites concerning videos shot of a No Time to Die car chase being filmed in Italy.

The chase is being filmed in public spaces in and around Matera. As a result, video has been shot by onlookers and posted to social media.

In turn, such video has been showing up on Twitter posts from Bond websites. Such video also has been on the websites of tabloids, including an Aug. 25 article in The Express.

Here’s an excerpt from an entry in the NOLO legal encyclopedia about takedown notices.

A DMCA takedown refers to a notice sent because a copyright owner believes someone has posted an infringement and they want it removed without the hassle of filing an infringement lawsuit. (It is sanctioned under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.) The copyright owner typically notifies the web provider that hosts the site (the Internet Service Provider or ISP). The ISP (assuming they’re not in Rumania, China, or some other country where the locals don’t fear U.S. copyright lawyers) typically removes whatever is complained about — for example, an infringing picture at a blog, an infringing movie at YouTube, etc. By “expeditiously” removing the infringing content, the ISP is given a “safe harbor” meaning that the ISP can’t be sued for infringement.

According to NOLO, an affected website can consider a counter notice. “If the complaining copyright owner fails to respond to your counter notice by filing a lawsuit, the ISP/OSP may re-post your content,” NOLO said.

UPDATE (2:15 p.m. New York time): One of the recipients of a takedown notice provided a copy. I’m not identifying that person here.  But in the email this person received via Twitter, MGM’s “authorized agent” described the supposed copyright infringement as “Unauthorized behind scenes.”

This was repeated for each alleged violation. The email from Twitter describes steps to try to contest the takedown.