There is something strange going on with Facebook and Neowin. If you have tried to visit our Facebook page over the past few weeks, you will have noticed that it has simply vanished. While this could be a simple misunderstanding, Facebook has refused to reinstate the fan page because of a complaint that came from an @gmail.com address.
The saga started back on March 28 when Neowin was notified of a complaint against its Facebook page. Rather than doing something rational and contacting Neowin first, they simply pulled the page.
Facebook first responded to our request for more information with this reply:
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your email. As you know, we received a claim of alleged rights infringement regarding the removed content. Per Facebook"s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, users are prohibited from posting infringing content on the site.
If you believe that we have made a mistake in removing this content, then please contact the complaining party directly with the following information to resolve your issue:
Notice #: [255360006]
Contact Information:
Name - [Jonathan ******]
Email - [******@gmail.com]
If both parties agree to restore the reported content, please ask the complaining party to contact us via email with a copy of the agreement so that we can refer to the original issue. We will not be able to restore this content to Facebook unless we receive explicit notice of consent from the complaining party.
Thanks for contacting Facebook,
Marissa
User Operations
Neowin has not had any luck in contacting this individual and according to Facebook, the only way to retrieve our site is if Jonathan ****** agrees to reinstate the webpage. Facebook stated in a separate email, "unfortunately, we will be unable to restore this content unless we receive a direct request from this party."
We nagged Facebook for more information to which they stated:
The page uses trademark that belongs to one of our clients. The trademark "Neowin" represents a store of robot toys and is registered in UK and US.
We at Neowin did our diligence and scoured the Internet looking for this begotten robot store. When we dug through the trademark website of the US, we found no evidence of this, likewise can be said for the UK. Also, if you are a lawyer protecting a client, don"t you think you would have some sort of email address other than GMAIL.com?
Neowin is registered as an LLC, we have rights to the Neowin business credentials but Facebook refuses to listen. We replied with the following message details:
1) You removed the page due to a complaint from a .gmail address that gave you a vague description and no facts or proof about the actual IP claim.
2) I have shown you that there is no USPTO filing for "Neowin", therefore his claim is false.
3) I have shown you that Neowin, LLC exists and has rights to the name.
4) The admin of the FaceBook page is emailing you from the neowin.net domain, not a gmail account
5) The person who made the claim is not a legal entity, and no "Neowin" robot toy exists
6) The so called claim comes from a griefer who has not responded to any emails. The reason why is because he is not real.
7) Since it is not a real person, legal office or any company that we can contact, we CAN"T get them to release this erroneous claim.
Facebook keeps responding by saying that the only way to resolve the issue is to get Jonathan to retract their complaint. Essentially, if you do not like a Facebook fanpage, create a DCMA request, send it from any email address, and then never open your email account again. By doing this, you can take down any fanpage because Facebook requires that the issuer rescind their initial complaint.
Neowin is at a bit of a roadblock. We asked to go around "Marissa" and speak to someone else but this has gotten us nowhere. Facebook drives enough traffic back to Neowin to make it worth our fight, but Lawyer"s are not cheap and Neowin can"t afford to fork out thousands of dollars to defend an anonymous complaint.
So we ask you Neowin readers and followers, what is our next step? Facebook is acting as a wall, we almost feel that "Marissa" knows that she was in the wrong and is now covering up her mistake by not providing rational responses and instead using canned responses.
[Update] Thanks for all your support! Neowin"s Facebook page is back online. Thanks for sticking with us during this outage and make sure to like us on Facebook to show your support for our site.
[Update 4/27] We received notice from Facebook, that the page was pulled again due to the same false claim, we"re waiting on who made the claim this time because Facebook doesn"t give a detailed reason without asking for it.
[Update 4/28] Redmond Pie"s page was taken down for a third time, you can read all about that here.
[Update 4/28] Our Facebook page is now back, it appears the coverage by many websites helped get our issue noticed by someone willing to think outside their job description. But, as of this time, we only have a handful of "likes", waiting to hear back if those will be restored too.