host not honoring DMCA notice, what to do?

aside from suing them blind, i don't think there is anything you can do.

Two weeks may not be enough time for a bigger host like Dream Host to process DMCA claims. The fact that they are a larger host adds more problems to the whole fiasco, given the likelyhood they actually have attorneys on retainer.

This means that while they will probably get to your request eventually they probably won't talk to you in the meantime. This is because you have, by filing a DMCA, essentially begun a legal process against them. They have to ensure that they don't get sued themselves so they distance themselves and, since in some regions it is illegal for a lawyer in an ongoing legal process to contact the person who filed against their represented company, you'll probably just have to wait it out. They'll contact you when they can verify you own them, the other people is not you, and they have them removed from their servers.

Or, like the other person said, you can go speak to a lawyer. They will get you an answer relatively quickly, but you're definitely going to have to shell out some cash.

I wonder how long I should wait?

I have contacted other large sites like ebay and they have almost always contacted me back very quickly sometimes within hours even on nights and weekends...

What I have always done is send a DMCA to the actual site, and tell them they have 72 hours to comply, not including weekends. If they do not then I send to their hosting service. I have never had to send to the hosting service yet. No one wants to have their site shut down, maybe you should have went to them directly first, let them respond, and if they didn't then go to their host.

Either way, I would resend a notice to both them and their hosting at this point. If you have proof, and show it, when you send the notice, they usually, (at least in my cases) do not fight!

Are you sure you sent it to the right email/contact at Dreamhost?
Because this doesn't sound like them.
And two weeks is plenty of time, large host or not.

You should have heard back from Dreamhost by now. Are you sure you properly submitted it with the information that is required and to the right person? If not, they may ignore it. I've never heard of a US host ignoring a properly filled out DMCA.

I'm positive it's the correct email and phone number.

It is the correct information, for sure it is and it's easy to understand but I did have one other host one time not accept my notice because they said the "wording had to be exact" I don't really know if you can ignore a DMCA just because things are worded differently or not but anyway I just called and they fixed it.

Dreamhost does not answer the phone, does not return phone calls or answer any emails.

I'll try again, I know I have the right contact information and that I included everything that is required of a DMCA except I did not link individually to every single of the almost 200 images that were copied...

It could be the request was lost, accidentally deleted, overlooked during the holidays, etc. Or, you're getting the finger. Hard to know right now.

I would avoid any further contact attempt where you do not have a record proving you sent a request. For instance, an online contact form can be useless. Email, fax, mail - all better.

Step 1 - Make sure your images are registered with the US Copyright Office.

Why? Registration may entitle you to recover statutory damages and attorney fees. Otherwise, you are on your own proving damages you actually suffered and you get to pay an attorney. Registration thus gives you lots of financial leverage that Dream Host will certainly pay attention to.

Step 2 - Since Dream Host is in California contact a California attorney to send a final take down demand before a lawsuit is filed.

My office is in California. There are also about 200,000 other attorneys here, many of whom love to take on big companies, especially when there is the prospect of recovering fees.

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lol I don't think it's any of those, I have a record of sending it and a record of several follow up emails.

I think they purposefully deleted it for some reason, then they just ignored all of my attempts to follow up because they don't care. edit: hmm I guess that actually would be giving me the finger lol how rude

Probably because I did not describe/link to each image individually? But it would take less than 30 seconds to figure out what was going on if they were to actually look at what I sent.

The offending site created a profile for me using my name and all of the images that were on my site. It's even all nicely organized in a folder using my name, and the copyright symbol with my name is still intact on each of my images that they took... and then they have their adsense next to all my content. Is that not easy?

Does DH have a phone number you can call?

As already stated you should have correctly sent it but in the future, you could also submit one and/or notices to:

The domain registrar, any payment processor on the site, the upstream provider, AdSense if they use them and anyone/thing else associated with the site.

It's a shotgun approach but does work.

Garrie

I don't have a watermark on these but every single image that was stolen has the copyright symbol and my name on it.

Awesome, thank you!