On November 4th, 2014, OpUniteBlue.com was suspended by GoDaddy due to a DMCA (copyright infringement) complaint. The complaint was made by Jeffrey Joy, the owner of a private investigation business called Vested Protection Security. Mr Joy is also the husband of Zapem aka Michele aka Joanne Joy.
OpUniteBlue published an article on Mr. Joy and Vested Protection Systems, alleging unethical and illegal activities. We had every right to publish information of public concern as established in Obsidian v Cox regarding Free Speech. Though our hosting contract with GoDaddy was due to expire November 27th, we felt the DMCA complaint was filed in retaliation for our post so we chose challenge Mr. Joy’s copyright claims.
We won. OpUniteBlue.com was reinstated by GoDaddy.
Now that our hosting contract has expired, since GoDaddy isn’t First Amendment friendly, we’ve moved to WordPress temporarily until we select a new webhost.
But we’re not done with Vested Protection Services, there are boundaries to what a private investigation business is allowed to do and Vested Protection has been stepping outside those boundaries for years.
The DMCA complaint Mr. Joy sent is below
Subject: Re: DMCA TakeDown Notice
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 13:16:09 -0400
To:copyrightclaims@godaddy.com
<vestedprotection@gmail.com>
I am the copyright owner of the content being infringed at:1. Pictures of our office that were removed from our business website located atwww.vestedprotection.com.
http://www.opuniteblue.com/2014/10/zapem-the-surreal-housewife-of-new-jersey/
2. Copies of the emails illegally hacked from a private email account and published on this website in violation of federal and state law.
This letter is official notification under the provisions of Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (�DMCA�) to effect removal of the above-reported infringement. I request that you immediately remove the specified posting and prevent the infringer, who is identified by its web address, from posting the infringing photograph to your servers in the future. Please be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to �expeditiously remove or disable access to� the infringing photograph upon receiving this notice. Noncompliance may result in a loss of immunity for liability under the DMCA.
I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of here is not authorized by me, the copyright holder, or the law.
The information provided here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I swear under penalty of perjury that I am the copyright holder.
Please send me at the address noted below a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.
Sincerely,
/s/ Jeffrey J. Joy
Vested Protection Systems, LLC
206 Westfield Avenue
Clark, New Jersey 07066
Mr Joy claimed that pictures of his office were taken from his business site. There is only one pictue and it’s actually a screen capture taken from Google maps. His claim is not true.
Mr Joy also claims Zapem’s emails were illegally hacked. Once again, this isn’t true. It’s been reported on several blogs that the emails were released by a Breitbart staff member. There are audio recordings of the email’s author, Michele, complaining about the emails being released but she doesn’t mention anything about hacking.
So we responded, disputing his claims.
Dear Doug:
This letter is written in response to your notification to me of a complaint received about my web page(s). The pages in question are:
http://www.opuniteblue.com/2014/10/zapem-the-surreal-housewife-of-new-jersey/
My response to this complaint is as follows:
Allegations of Copyright Violation / Digital Millennium Copyright Act
- Use of an owned image.
http://www.opuniteblue.com/2014/10/zapem-the-surreal-housewife-of-new-jersey/
The claims of copyright violation should be rejected because:
The material in question is not copyrighted, or the copyright belongs to Google, Inc. who is not a party to this complaint. It is therefore in the public domain and may be reproduced by anyone.
The complainant has provided no copyright registration information or other tangible evidence that the material in question, (complete with Google Map designation marker in the lower right corner of the image) is in fact copyrighted or obtained from any other source than Google, Inc., and I have a good faith belief that it is not. The allegation of copyright violation is therefore in dispute, and at present unsupported.The complainant does not hold the copyright to the material in question, is not the designated representative of the copyright holder, and therefore lacks standing to assert that my use of the material is a violation of any of the owner’s rights.Allegations of Copyright Violation / Digital Millennium Copyright Act
- Publication of a screenshot of an email document.http://www.opuniteblue.com/2014/10/zapems-plan-to-destroy-the-left-2012/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=evergreen_post_tweeter&utm_campaign=website
The claims of copyright violation should be rejected because:
The complainant has provided no tangible evidence that the material in question (screenshot photo) is in fact not in the public domain via publication exceeding one year at the following website: http://www.osborneink.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/michelle-nj-andrew-breitbart.pdf
or that the segment displayed at http://www.opuniteblue.com/2014/10/zapems-plan-to-destroy-the-left-2012/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=evergreen_post_tweeter&utm_campaign=website was illegally obtained through alleged “hacking”. I have a good faith belief that it is not an improper or illegal publication of said email segment since it remains online in its entirety for any member of the public at osborneink.com website to be read or copied without DMCA complaint via Vested Protection Systems. This supports my good faith belief. The allegation of copyright violation is therefore in dispute, and at present unsupported.The complainant does not hold the copyright to the material in question, is not the designated representative of the copyright holder, or a legal representative of Andrew Breitbart, the recipient (deceased) or his legal representatives, and therefore lacks standing to assert that my use of the material is a violation of any of the legitimate owner’s rights.
The complainant is self-identified as Jeffrey Joy although he introduces himself as “Michelle from NJ” in the email document. Complainant does not identify the actual author, referring to the document broadly as “a private email account” and alleges criminal activity without any forensic, court or law enforcement reports supporting the claim that it was ever obtained illegally or improperly. Either complainant does not hold the copyright to the material in question or is not the designated representative of the copyright holder. The email recipient appears to be political consultant Andrew Breitbart, possibly the actual source of the email release to the public and complainant has failed to prove otherwise. Therefore the complaint lacks standing to assert that my use of the material is a violation of any of the owner’s rights.
My use of the material is legally protected because it falls within the “fair use” provision of the copyright regulations, as defined in 17 USC 107. If the complainant disagrees that this is fair use, they are free to take up the matter with osborneink.com or legal representatives for Andrew Breitbart. You, the ISP, are under no obligation to settle this dispute, or to take any action to restrict my speech at the behest of this complainant. Furthermore, siding with the complainant in a manner that interferes with my lawful use of your facilities could constitute breach of contract on your part.
This communication to you is a DMCA counter notification letter as defined in 17 USC 512(g)(3):
I declare, under penalty of perjury, that I have a good faith belief that the complaint of copyright violation is based on mistaken information, misidentification of the material in question, or deliberate misreading of the law.
My name, address, and telephone number are as follows:
[REDACTED]