Right to counter-sue for false DMCA

The DMCA allows people to sue for copyright infringement.

The problem is it is clearly being abused.  We definitely have copyright infringement, but it is not that hard to find cases where:

1. Secondary media people suing the original artists for infringing their rights (some knowingly, some out of just plain stupidity)
2. People using the DMCA to stop political speech
3. Copyright owners mistakenly requesting their own postings be removed

Even the best people tend to make mistakes about 3% of the time.  (Microsoft's numbers for example)


So what do we do about the bad actors  - the scum that aren't doing it by mistake, but are doing it on purpose.

Well, the courts do let you sue:  (OPG vs Diebold)   But that route is expensive and by no means assured.

It also may not work at all against poor people or those that have money to spare.

I suggest a simple law - all DMCA notices must be filed with the new Consumer Protection agency.  They and only they can then forward it on to the offender.  The forwarding would normally be automatic.

If they find you have abused the system in the past, (more than 5% of your filings have been rejected), then you pay a fee to file the DMCA take down notice, refundable if the complaint is not overturned within three months.



The fee could start out at $100 for 5% bad DMCA, then double for every 5%  (i.e. at 10%, you pay $200, at 15% you pay $400, at 20% you pay $800).

For people that have placed less than 20 complaints, pretend that their total complaints are 20  (so 1 bad complaint and no other complaints count as 5% not 100%)

More important than the money, it creates a list of bad actors.  People that can not be trusted.  Make this list explicitedly admissable in court cases.