DMCA potentially to force service provider offline

January 2, 2003 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- The enforcement of digital piracy and intellectual property legislation in the United States might force an Internet and hosting service offline within the month.

The Thing (isp.thing.net), an independent service provider that has offered Internet connectivity and Web design services to the New York City artistic community, was notified by its upstream provider, NTT/Verio, that its was in violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).

The Thing provided Web space to an artistic organization that created a parody Web site of Dow Chemical. The site extracted numerous trademarks, images, texts and designs taken directly from Dow's Web site. Dow Chemical alleged that the parody Web site infringed upon the Dow's copyright and trademark protections. Dow Chemical also alleged that the parody Web site also was a violation of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, since the site used the domain name, "dow-chemical.com," which incorporated the distinctive Dow trademark. Dow Chemical also claimed that the parody Web site defamed its reputation through release of a falsified press statement.

As a result of a complaint issued to Verio by Dow concerning these violations, Verio responded by shutting down The Thing's entire network, an action that affected hundreds of The Thing's clients, until the parody site was removed on Dec. 4.

Shortly afterward, Verio's lawyers informed the company that its service would be permanently severed on Feb. 28, 2003.