Attorney Steve® - Copyright Law Essentials - Disabling content on Wayback machine with DMCA takedown demand.

Introduction

The Internet Archive, also known as the Wayback Machine, is a digital library that was established in 1996 by Brewster Kahle. The purpose of this digital library is to make digital information available to the public in a free and open way. It contains a vast collection of websites, books, audio, video, software, and other digital media. The idea for the Internet Archive came from Brewster Kahle, who had previously worked on developing a digital library at the MIT Media Lab. Kahle wanted to create a digital library that would provide access to the world's knowledge. He envisioned a system that would allow users to search for and find information easily and quickly.

The Internet Archive began as a simple web crawler that searched the web for websites and stored them in a database. As the Internet Archive grew in popularity, its web crawler began to store more information, such as books, audio, video, and software. The Archive also began to store content from other sources, such as the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institute, and various universities.

In 2001, the Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine, which allows users to access archived versions of web pages. This service was created in response to the growing importance of the Internet and the need to preserve content. The Wayback Machine is a search engine that allows users to view webpages from different times. It allows users to access webpages that have been removed or changed since the time they were archived.

The Internet Archive is a valuable resource for researchers and historians. It provides access to digital information from around the world and across different periods. Researchers and historians can use the Internet Archive to view webpages and documents that are no longer available online. It also provides access to a variety of media, such as audio, video, and software, which can be used to study the history of digital media.

The Internet Archive has been used by many organizations and individuals to document the history of the Internet and digital media. In addition, it has been used to preserve web pages and documents no longer available online. The Internet Archive is an important resource for researchers, historians, and the general public. It provides free access to digital information and allows users to explore the history of the Internet.

All this being said, on a negative note (depending upon your viewpoint), photo rights holders are searching the Wayback and drumming up OLD copyrighted photos, images, artwork, and illustrations that were posted by the owner of the site typically or their web designer.  Photo companies then seek to extract a settlement for the unauthorized (usually commercial) use of the photography.

This comes as a shock to many business owners (ex., a real estate broker who may have used a landscape photo on their website or header) who have CLOSED their businesses years ago, only to find they receive a letter from a pic rights type of company, or worse, a copyright infringement law firm.  This can create a situation where the photographer or their firm can seek thousands of dollars in settlement fees for the use of the image years ago (also sometimes raising a copyright statute of limitations issue).

What happens if you need to take down images from your website that is indexed on the Wayback machine?

It is not 100% clear what steps would work.  Some say to insert "no robots.txt" code into your website so that the Internet Archive does not index your site, leaving photo companies to find other avenues to try to extract a photo settlement.  One idea I had is that you might be able to submit a DMCA takedown notice using your copyright infringement law firm to let them know you are serious.

Along with that, you could also send an email notice to [email protected].

There is no guarantee either of these would work, but I would start with that.

Contact a California copyright infringement law firm

We have helped hundreds of clients in a wide variety of copyright legal matters, from takedowns, Strike 3 Holdings defense, photo infringement matters, software audits and licensing disputes, IPTV defense, boxing piracy matters and more.  Call us at (877) 276-5084 for more information or email us through our contact form.