Google has obtained a default judgment against two men who abused its DMCA takedown system to falsely target 117,000 URLs of competitors' online stores. With none of the defendants showing up in court, a California federal court sided with the search engine. Through an injunction, the men are now prohibited from sending false takedown notices and creating new Google accounts.

The DMCA takedown process allows rightsholders to request the removal of infringing material from online platforms.

It’s a powerful, widely-used tool that results in millions of URLs and links being taken down daily. While often justified, some DMCA takedown requests are questionable or even outright abusive.

Google Sues DMCA Scammers

Google is no stranger to DMCA abuse. The company has processed more than 9 billion takedown requests over the years and, while most notices are legitimate, scammers regularly try to game the process to gain an unfair advantage.

Last November, Google decided to take action against the rampant DMCA abuse. In a lawsuit filed at a federal court in California, it accused Nguyen Van Duc and Pham Van Thien of sending over 100,000 fraudulent takedown requests. Many of these notices were allegedly filed against third-party T-shirt shops.

The scammers used fabricated names and also impersonated celebrities such as Elon Musk in their takedown efforts. This could very well include the unusual Elon Musk t-shirt takedown action that was uncovered last year. At the time, we already hinted at foul play.

One of the Reported T-shirts

Google’s complaint against the two alleged DMCA scammers specifically mentioned Musk, among other celebrities such as Taylor Swift and Kanye West, alleging that the DMCA abuse was part of a scheme to gain a competitive advantage.

“Defendants appear to be connected with websites selling printed t-shirts, and their unlawful conduct aims to remove competing third-party sellers from Google Search results. Defendants have maliciously and illegally exploited Google’s policies and procedures under the DMCA to sabotage and harm their competitors,” Google wrote.

Default Judgment

Following the complaint, the defendants, who are believed to reside in Vietnam, were summoned via their Gmail accounts and SMS. However, the pair remained quiet and didn’t respond in court.

Without the defendants representing themselves, Google requested a default judgment. According to the tech giant, it’s clear that the duo violated the DMCA with their false takedown notices. In addition, they committed contract breach under California law.

“Defendants have weaponized Google’s DMCA notice-and-takedown systems and procedures and used them not for their intended purpose of expeditiously removing allegedly infringing content, but instead to have their competitors’ legitimate content removed based on false allegations,” Google wrote. `

This alleged behavior wasn’t well hidden either, as the defendants allegedly promoted their abuse scheme on YouTube in a video blatantly titled: “2022 SEO 3 minutes to take top 1 google by Fake DMCA complaints”.

Fake DMCA tips…

Google said that, absent a default judgment, the defendants would continue to harm consumers and third-party businesses. These actions, in turn, will damage Google’s reputation as a search engine.

Court Grants Judgment and Injunction

In July, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim recommended granting Google’s motion for default judgment. The recommendation included an injunction that prevents the two men from abusing Google’s services going forward. However, the District Judge had the final say.

Last Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila adopted the recommendations, issuing a default judgment in favor of Google. The order confirms that defendants Nguyen Van Duc and Pham Van Thien violated the DMCA with their false takedown notices. In addition, they committed contract breach under California law.

In typical copyrights-related verdicts, most attention is paid to the monetary damages, but not here. While Google could have requested millions of dollars in compensation, it didn’t request a penny.

Google’s primary goal was to put an end to the abusive behavior, not to seek financial compensation. Therefore, the company asked for an injunction to prohibit the defendants from sending false takedowns going forward. This includes a ban on registering any new Google accounts.

The request ticked all the boxes and, without a word from the defendants, Judge Davila granted the default judgment as well as the associated injunction.

The Injunction

Google’s victory sends a clear message: those who attempt to manipulate the system can and will be held accountable. However, it is unlikely that the injunction will have a significant impact on the wider ‘scammer’ community.

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A copy of Judge Edward Davila’s order adopting the report and recommendation, as well as granting the default judgment, is available here (pdf)