As an update to the meritless and fraudulent DMCA claims that resulted in my website (among other things) being censored from the internet, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has jumped in and put No Evil Foods on notice for its evil behavior.
While a more in-depth review is forth coming, below is an open letter to the owners of No Evil Foods on my behalf from the Electronic Frontier Foundation:
I had the honor of working on a piece about the investors behind No Evil Foods (along with other vegan enterprises) with one of the workers, Jon Reynolds, for this guest spot at the fantastic Down With Tyranny blog. Click thru to read:
No Evil Foods (NEF) has been using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to make false claims to ownership if content that they have no legal right to. Unfortunately, these claims are so easily made that NEF have managed to get several prominent websites which were hosting reportage taken down until the reportage was removed.
This includes audio of the union busting activities the company used to harm their workers, obtained legally through North Carolina law, as well as parody pieces created under Fair Use law. {See next post here}
As of Thursday, August 27, 2020, my website was targeted by NEF and suspended by the hosting company, HostGator, for 14 days. This action has caused me harm and I am looking at all legal options not only to make me whole; but, more importantly to continue to expose the abuses NEF has inflicted upon its workers and now other journalists.
Below is the email from NEF to HostGator claiming I was in violation. As you can see, NEF was not even willing to sign the notice with a legitimate signature – “Birdie Gregson” is not a real person nor are they a legal entity representing the company.
Dear Customer:
Please be advised that we received the enclosed notice of alleged trademark infringement on your website. Please remove the allegedly infringing content within 48 hours and provide written notice to us to that effect when completed.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Re: Privacy & Copyright Infringement notice.
http://andrew-miller.com/
It is hosted by: Unified Layer
Organization name: WEBSITEWELCOME.COM
IP addres: 192.185.41.192
AS(autonomous system) number and organization: AS46606 Unified Layer
AS name: UNIFIEDLAYER-AS-1
Reverse DNS of the IP: 192-185-41-192.unifiedlayer.com
City: Burlington
Country: United States
ATTN: Website Welcome Legal Department
No Evil Foods, LLC is the official exclusive holder of the trademark No Evil Foods. It has come to our attention that an account called Andrew-Miller.com is distributing an Unauthorized recording hosted directly on your web servers. This recording is the voice of the No Evil Foods CEO, Michael Woliansky and Michael Woliansky only.
Content can be found here:
http://andrew-miller.com/blog/
and embedded here:
http://andrew-miller.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/NEF.m4a
This is a speech given by one person and a recording distributed of one person only. This person, Michael Woliansky has not authorized this recording, nor signed off on its distribution. This is in no way authorized and we ask that you cease hosting it on your servers immediately.
This content hosted on your servers specifically tracks back to our company name and is also using imagery that infringes on our copyrighted packaging design.
Content can be found here:
http://andrew-miller.com/blog/
screen capture of Andrew Miller’s blog as follows is in the attached PDF
Screen grab from our company website of our products:
https://www.noevilfoods.com/products/
Screen grab of No Evil Foods website are in the attached PDF.
Attached as well in the PDF is a copy of No Evil Foods current trademark certificate.
I hereby state that I have a good faith belief that the disputed use of the copyrighted material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law (e.g., as a fair use). I hereby state that the information in this notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that I am the owner, or authorized to act on behalf of, the owner, of the copyright or of an exclusive right under the copyright that is allegedly infringed.
Please remove this content from your servers. It is unauthorized and should be removed immediately.
If prompt attention to this matter is not made, we reserve the right to explore all options including taking prompt legal action.
Sincerely,
Birdie Gregson
No Evil Foods, LLC
(828) 367-1536<https://www.google.com/search?q=no+evil+foods+mailing+address&oq=no+evil+foods+mailing+address&aqs=chrome..69i57.5095j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8>;
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Failure to comply with this request within 48 hours could result in suspension or termination of your website.
Should you have further questions, please contact us.
Regards,
Hostgator Adherence Team
DUE TO NO EVIL FOODS ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE JOURNALISTS USING THE DMCA AS A BULLY TACTIC, THIS POST CAUSED MY WEBSITE TO BE TAKEN DOWN FOR 14 DAYS. BECAUSE OF NO EVIL FOODS FALSE CLAIMS AND NON-EXISTANT LEGAL STANDING, MY SITE IS BACK UP AND SO IS THIS POST. PLEASE SHARE WIDELY! FEEL FREE TO TELL NO EVIL FOODS WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THEIR CENSORSHIP ATTEMPTS HERE:
No Evil Foods Website — Twitter — Instagram — Facebook — Preach@noevilfoods.com
As a follow up to the ongoing press about No Evil Foods union busting, the management at No Evil Foods has been systematically following those ex-workers they retaliated against for attempting to organize a union, and continued to bully and harass them as the workers seek justice.
Besides bogus copyright and privacy claims that led to some of the workers Instagram posts (and then accounts) being pulled, No Evil Foods is going after this audio where the owners and other management can be clearly heard bullying and cajoling production staff into voting against their own interests for a union.
For a company that steeps itself in solidarity and socialist imagery and language, the owners have shown their true colors as the unrepentant capitalists that they are. Please share this audio widely and, if possible, download and repost it elsewhere so that the management of No Evil Foods can’t hide from their own words.
Besides following up with Industrial Worker, I’ve had the opportunity to speak a few more times with Mr. David Feldman on his show, most recently in the following episode.
