Toyota Claims Ownership of Fan Wallpapers
Written by Ben Jones on November 14, 2008Motoring giant Toyota is normally ahead of the curve when it comes to technology. The company is known for innovations like the Synergy Drive in the Prius, as well as long term reliability. However, if you take pride in your Toyota, and have it as a wallpaper on your system, Toyota doesn’t want you sharing.
Toyota, one of the biggest car companies in the world, is often a name synonymous with quality. There is even a philosophy of doing business, called “The Toyota Way”, which emphasizes that the right result will come from the right process, and that solving the root problems brings the organization the greatest benefit.
This ‘Way’ is probably not communicated to its lawyers in great detail, which is why Desktopnexus, a site that provides desktop backgrounds, has been contacted by them. In perhaps one of the most wildly arrogant demands in DMCA history, Toyota’s lawyers are demanding the withdrawal of all wallpapers that feature a Toyota, Scion, or Lexus. The site’s owner, Harry Maugans contacted Toyota to clarify. He was told that all images featuring Toyota vehicles should be removed, even images with copyright belonging to others.
Speaking to TorrentFreak, Maugans said: “Their lawyer, Garrett Biggs, told us that if we wanted them to specifically identify their images, we would have to pay for them to do so”. Maugans also said he was afraid it would come to a lawsuit, fearing the attrition effect that is so common now in copyright disputes. Toyota, with cash assets of over $23Billion can surely afford to spin out the legal costs in an attempt to bankrupt the site – the same strategy that is often used to ‘encourage‘ a settlement in RIAA cases.
Yet, Toyota has also been cagey. These demands have not been sent in the form of a DMCA notice. While sending such a notice would require the takedown, it also requires that the person sending the notice legally certify that they are legal representatives for the copyright holders at issue. Making a false statement is ‘punishable under penalty of perjury‘, which is not taken lightly in US courts.
That copyright holders should be properly identified is also not lost on Mr. Maugans. “What if Toyota comes back and says “yes, we own the copyright to all of those [Toyota images on site]“. How can we know if they’re lying to get us to take them all down? How can we prove they do in fact own the copyrights on those wallpapers? Some are very hard to believe, such as this which looks more like Fan Art than a professionally designed marketing photo. Or this one which they’re claiming they own, but it has a “Created by:” line at the bottom by someone who doesn’t seem to have any connection to the actual Toyota company.”
The ‘huh what?’ value of Toyota’s position has been noticed by others as well. On the FreeCulture News site, one comment questions the action saying “What are they trying to accomplish by attacking free advertising?” Indeed, this is what it comes down to. Instead of embracing free advertising and word of mouth, Toyota seems desperate to control and micromanage every aspect of it’s publicity.
At the end of the day, the best question is that asked by Mr Maugans, “Has DMCA abuse really gotten this bad?”
At the time of press, Toyota Inc. did not respond to requests for comment.
Thanks to Conley at FCnews for the tip
Previously: Record Labels to Sue Vuze, Limewire and SourceForge
Next: Canadian Anti-Camming Laws Net First Conviction
119 Responses
wow, I was right about to start leasing an 08 Camry, luckily nothing went down on paper yet. Civic is a better choice anyways ;D
this is so funny, mainly because when a new car comes out, They hire 3D Artists to model the car so it can be manipulated and animated for the commercial. The “fan art” is not the property of toyota what so ever.
Muhahhahahahahah
nearly i fall down from my comfy chair :P
Funny sue SH*Ts now a days :P
Now these companies are making fun of word: SUE ! ! !
I think this is getting out of hand now. Can stupidity really reach that point? I think we can expect anything now. Oh sue me because I just said Toyota to my mom, so I should pay a fee to even say the brand.
How can such a forward thinking company be so ignorant and stupid. Directly attacking the fans and free advertisers of your product is about as stupid as it gets.
It is not a matter of what is good for the company. It is a matter of civil rights and freedom of speech. It should not be legal for them to censor people’s right to talk about another person’s products. It is good that it is beneficial, but even if it were harmful, it should not be their right to censor others. This is what copyright law has come down to, unfortunately.
Are we going to just sit there, or are we going to fight?
Roze
http://www.10ch.org/
Wow, Toyota. Real good.
Sue me, Toyota – here’s MY pic of your car:
.—;-,
__/_,{)|__;._
.”` _ : _ `. .:::;. .::’
‘–(_)——(_)–’ ` ‘::’
XD
More and more do i start believing that the movie “Idiocracy” was giving to us by the “future’s” smart people, in hope’s that the smart people in present time can try to stop everything that will happen.
not sure where i was going with that but im stoned and i find this fucking shit soooo funny. If the webhost actually takes down the content, then that just prove’s that you dont have to go to court to get shit handled, just bully people and lie to them in legal threats.
I sincerely hope this is just a case of trigger-happy lawyers, and not Toyota in general turning idiotic.
Nice char-length – killed my Toyota… *sob* :/
This is insane. I dont see bmw/porche/merc, which make waaaay better cars, complaining about those wallpapers on the internet.
Ok, this is borderline retarded. I mean, what are they trying to accomplish?
good thing i bought a mitsu. fuck toyotas cheaply made shit piles
Looks like the pirate’s bay just got a new section.
ah hell, easy solution – use photoshop or a.n. other preferred image soft, obscure/remove all identifiable brand references and that more or less then acts as a kick in the teeth vs overzealous lawyers.
But fair play to those who like to share photos of their car (brand and model irrespective), they shouldn’t have to obscure details to keep lawyers at bay etc.
If it’s a picture of your car, then you can pretty much do anything with it bar pass off other people’s work as yours – so as long as you ain’t trying to promote the idea that the featured car is your work and creation, then i don’t see the point of the aggro this creates.
Back in the day, when i was an owner of both a clasic Norton and likewise a classic Ducati, noone objected to me sharing photos of my bikes for the benefit of others who wanted copies – and it was my actual bikes in question.
May the lawyers behind this stupid action rot with the rest of their kind whilst being slowly torn apart by something demonic and sadistic ;)
>How can we know if they’re lying to get us to take them all down? How can we prove they do in fact own the copyrights on those wallpapers?
The burden of proof lays on Toyota, which means they should put up or shut up.
OK, I love a good onion type story, but I don’t like when it’s not announced as such…
…this is satire, right?
where can i download cp?
My first thought was to take as many pictures of Toyotas and post them, however consider the possibility that Toyota would like that, and it’s their plan to get publicity.
if the original picture of the car is by toyota, they’ll own the (c) to that picture.
Derivative works are also (c) by the original holder if I understand things right.
There is an argument of fair use to be made though.
reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work
@18 (ken adams)
My frst thought was also ‘let’s streisand effect this’, but althoug I don’t think it’s what they were hoping for, it would actually benifit them.
Oh massive fail, how I love the so.
This a joke, right?
J.
toyota cars are crap anyway, who would wants pictures of them.
http://www.aquariumfish.me
what happens if i replace toyota logo with another company’s logo…will i still be sued
@#23 dude, we don’t care about your fish. Quit spamming us. Unless you have fish with the toyota logo on it.
J.
This makes perfect sense to me. It’s not that I agree, but just to point out that it’s consistent. If a can of Coca-Cola is copyrighted and therefore cannot be photographed without approval of the copyright owner, why not the same with a car?
There are a lot of copyrighted “things” that cannot be photographed without possibly breaking the law, and this includes things like statues, paintings, and other artwork in public places.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0330/p15s01-usju.html
This has a lot to do with why The Pirate Bay is a useless piece of shit tracker that clueless losers use – they don’t know any better of course an dthink they’re in a pirate fairyland.
TPB sucks dogs balls – much like aquariumfish sucks his own dog’s balls.
this isn’t mr. biggs first outing
check out this thread..
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2163932
Well then any online auto classified with a picture of a Toyota is a big no no.
Wow I was just think which car should I get Toyoto or Honda. This news just pushed me towards Honda Civic.
I thought Toyota were a cool, forward thinking company. So disillusioned :(
nissan ftw
@29
No. This is even more extreme than that. The fact is that those are pictures of people’s own cars. Are not people allowed to take pictures of cars that they own? The idea that Toyota still owns the cars, even though it was bought by someone else, is plainly ridiculous no matter how you look at it.
Roze
@ #29 ‘Anonymous Coward-tard’.
I use TPB & I’m a sysadmin for a major corporate. The network I keep running (smoothly, I might add) has well over a thousand hosts. Consequently, I drive what I want & I holiday wherever in the world I want, _whenever_ I want.
Who’s the ‘clueless loser’ in this story? You, you sh1twad.
Catch fire & die soon, you waste of skin.
No offence.
I am a member of Desktop Nexus… With some unique pictures posted of our BMWs etc.. I encourage BMW to engage in the same activity… See how it turns out lol..
nothing to scream about if the pics of the cars are your own…..now if you had used them without permission…time to take this opportunity to take it down before the crap hits the fan.
…….xerox textbooks………..^^
Um.. wtf? This can’t be true, if it is Toyota really needs to die :P
@ 37:
Way to attack the wrong person. Hard to believe you can smoothly run a network of over a thousand hosts and drive whatever you want and take holidays any time when you’re incapable of distinguishing between the numbers 29 and 30.
Not to mention, who the hell says sh1twad? Can’t say shit over the internet? Might get caught by momma?
Let’s get serious here…
LOL, thats pretty funny. Remind me to NEVEr buy a Japanese car.
Jessy
someone said thepiratebay sucked?? That’s news to me since thepiratebay is the first place I go to if I’m looking for something. They are pretty damn good if you ask me. I can get a movie there in under an hour. That’s faster than driving to blockbuster or a kiosk.
Can I copyright my own image? If so, then I can take thousands of companies to court for their surveillance videos of me. Where does it end? Lets just all stop working and start copyrighting ourselves so we can get lots of money through lawsuits.
Toyota so ignorant, good thing I went with Honda
I hold all Japanese people responsible.
@#14 – If Toyotas were cheap shitpiles I wouldn’t be here right now. I got into a NASTY wreck (totalled my Matrix) a few weeks back. I walked away. The entire front of my car was smashed in, but from the firewall back you’d swear the car was drivable. Cheaply made? I don’t think so. I’d buy another in a heartbeat if my wife and I hadn’t decided to go carless for the time being.
I hope this is just some eager beaver over-achiever junior lawyer at the firm trying to make a name for himself and not Toyota’s policy. If it is, screw ‘em.
I am about to purchase a car; I guess I’m taking Toyota off the list. Is Toyota that stupid?
Tell Toyota what you think: http://toyota.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/toyota.cfg/php/enduser/ask_intercept.php
internal politics – law firm contracted by toyota for their services need to continue to show their value to avoid reduction in retainment fees or getting fired for some other firm – so they need to continue to wag the dog
Buy American.. screw Toyota
I just sold my Toyota and will never by another, good riddance.
Anybody who knows anything knows Toyota is full of douchebags. If you really want to hurt them, buy a Subaru.
To #40 (’johnsen’) – you dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks-redneck-pinhead, I INTENDED my comments at #29.
Also, looks like you’re fairly illiterate too. I’m #36 not #37.
Here’s a free clue, shitbird: try refreshing your browser before posting your gobshite all over the internets.
No offence, fucktard…
Actually have any of you looked at the Toyota pictures on that site? Most of them are concept pictures. Where would you get Toyota concept pictures besides from Toyota? These pictures belong to Toyota. How about those ones on the white backgrounds? They don’t look like the pictures of fans taking pictures of their cars. The only ones that are disputable are the ones with a background.
Admitantly I can’t say the same for cars but word of mouth is the strongest advertising you can have.
When I caught a coworker looking at a Linksys router I asked him why he wanted a new one. He told me he had bought one and was going to put a free open-source firmware (DD-WRT) on there and I the same day bought one.
Why could a free desktop be anything but an asset. Sure if maybe it showed jesus slayed across the bonnet I could understand it abit more.
When will the phrase ‘the customer is always right’ become a businesses stand point again!
This isn’t the first time something like this happened. I remember reading something on the tubes about a bunch of car fans wanting to put together a calender of thier cars.
Ford cars to be exact, and ford pulled this exact same bullshit. they owned all the rights to everyone elses photographs.
the calender (which was being put together for a charity I believe) was pulled from production. GG world.
i’d like to see what they think they can do if someone buys their toyota and makes a wallpaper out of it. once you buy it, don’t you have the rights over it?
Ford does the same thing.
I have toyota Sienna. Fuck Toyota. After the lease is over, I am switching over to Honda. Let the bastards know the price.
Well, this is just more evidence that the lawyers have taken over the company. See http://www.ToyotaOverride.com for another mind-blowing example of Toyota hubris.
It’s a shame their legal dept. is full of AHOLES since they make such reliable cars..
For those wishing to contact the Toyota lawyer and let him know just how nuts he is, how much he’s hurt Toyota’s image, or even how stupid you think using the DMCA in this manner is you can contact him at .
bah, bad code, sorry
garrett_biggs@toyota.com
OK, I am just about the biggest critic when it comes to corporations making DMCA claims, so please don’t think I’m just some Toyota apologist when I say:
Can we see the claim by Toyota? This post includes links to the offending wallpapers and so on, but not to Toyota’s claim.
If Toyota is making a claim on trademark grounds, they actually have something to stand on. If they’re making it on copyright grounds, then it’s ridiculous.
But, just from this post and the links it includes, I can’t tell what claim Toyota is making.
OK, this post:
http://freeculturenews.com/2008/11/06/desktopnexus-gets-dmca-takedown-from-toyota/
says that it’s a DMCA takedown request, which implies that it’s copyright, rather than trademark.
I’d still like to see Toyota’s claim before passing judgement. I still feel that this blog post has been written in response to a claim that it doesn’t quote.
Toyota is apparently trying everything they can think of in order to become the new GM…
This sounds like free advertising
for Toyota. Its strange that their
symbols and name will need to be purchased for marketing done other
than their own.
thanks from tony at:
http://www.ntopics.com
Wow toyota should be sued for supreme new levels of stupidity. Seriously what the hell. Like they say all the images belong to them because they contain there car. Does that mean that movies with their car also belong to them? Because if there was a coca-cola can and cigarettes and a gun and a logo, then the copyright would belong to hundreds of people. And how can that be when someone else made it. And if thats so then dont we all own something of everything in some far fetched streetch of the imagination. And then arent they stealing our part and breaching copyright law? I mean i think my claim has as much stupidity as theirs? Cant mine go to court to? I hopes i win lmfao :D
In my town, Toyota sued a diner called Lexus. The owner gave up because of the legal costs, and renamed his diner Alexus.
This reminds me of playing poker… shows how the “big stack” can “bluff” it’s way to winning the hand… just sad.
maybe if they spent more time on there cars and less on their lawyers – the B team of a DRINKS COMPANY(redbull) wouldn’t beat them on a F1 track.
as well as reanult, bmw, merc
BOYCOTT TOYOTA.
“What are they trying to accomplish by attacking free advertising?”
There’s an aspect of copyright protection where if you don’t enforce your copyright, then you relinquish your right to do so in other cases. Other cases may be more directly or significantly problematic or costly than “free advertizing”. Basic idea is for pictures that truely are Toyota’s, they either enforce their copyright, or the photo (tagling, motto, jingle, writing, whatever) can become legally “not theirs”. They probably do not want things that are currently theirs to become not so.
So if I take a picture of a Toyota I suppose Toyota would claim ownership of the picture. Not the way I read copyright law.
glad I got a nissan instead of a toyota..
what a shit company, il be sure to tell everyone how much they suck.
Welcome to lost sales idiots.
********
you can help:
GO THERE AND UPLOAD TOYOTA IMAGES
let’s make toyota the biggest category
********
Well if any Toyota execs are reading this. You just lost a future sale on a Toyota. I don’t buy things from companies that act like this.
Unfortunately I currently own a Tundra…it’s been a great vehicle but this really makes me wish I’d have gone with a Ford, Dodge or Nissan. This will definitely keep me from being a repeat customer when I buy again in the next 1-2 years. (well assuming the other companies haven’t imploded by then)
To anonymous(21): I do not think Toyota owns the copyright to pictures of their cars, the creators of the pictures own the copyright to the pictures. Toyota owns only the trademark. This is clearly an abuse of the copyright law and it is a campaign to make Toyota the most talked about brand, like Sony with their (laptop) batteries. :)
BTW wikipedia is really an unreliable reference
Now that they’re #1, people are going to hate them anyways. This certainly doesn’t help that out. I quit buying CDs that don’t pass riaaradar.com’s test. Now it’s time to stop buying Toyotas.
The HiLux on Top Gear attests to the build quality of Toyota’s vehicles.
As for the current beef, I’m with #73; if they don’t make a stand immediately, then they’re less likely to succeed in law if and when in the future, a further dispute happens (which could be of greater import).
It doesn’t stop Toyota looking like petulant children tho’…
I own two Toyota’s, a Prius and a Corolla. After seeing this trial lawyers money pot, I’m not going to buy another Toyota. Thank you lawyers, for helping me in my next selection of a car.
99% of the images on Desktop Nexus are professional images from Toyota. The Scion XB you have linked to is a image from Oct, 2006 PR from Scion. The created by image uses copyrighted Toyota Hilux image from the Asian Toyota Sites.
Well, not that I ever planned on buying a toyota, but if the situation were to ever arise, fuck them! Maybe I should buy a cheap police auction toyota so I can videotape me and my friends destroying it on private property, then having it hauled off to the wrecking yard…. That would be better PR in my mind…. :P
Good article but the possessive its is not spelled it’s, just as hi’s and her’s are nor spelled with apostrophes.
Ford did this same exact thing a few years ago with a Mustang forum, the Black Mustang Club(BMC). The guys at the BMC forum made up a calendar with highly-modified Mustang pictures, all taken by their respective owners. The problem was that the pictures had a blue oval in them, Ford didn’t like that at all. Ford has since modified it’s stance and now allows calendars to be made and sold as long as the Ford emblem doesn’t show anywhere. Nice, huh? Link:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/13/ford-car-owners-are.html
I´m just glad that i own a car not some kind of “car project/toy” like the ones that this so called “car maker” builds. I just wish that in some car exposition they took a picture of me near one of their so called “cars” so i could put their a***s in court.
Just my 2 c$
thanks for the heads up, was looking at toyota and ford and do not like the way toyota are heading, so they lost out on a sale….
nice cars though :)
Car Porn?
I wonder how Toyota and their “supposed” attorney Garrett Biggs (anyone have an address) would feel about the onslaught of “Toyota Sucks Balls” desktop wallpapers that might start showing up. I think “Garrett Biggs Sucks Balls” also has a nice ring to it. Nothing wrong about sucking balls. I just wonder how they would react. And for those of you who believe this is childish, yes it is. But so is their behavior, and sometimes the kiddies only respond to name calling.
Damn, this back injury IS making me mean.
Most of the Toyota posters I see on that site look professional.
Take this one: http://cars.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/11681/
Great lighting, setting, and color. Also, someone cleared the tiremarks before taking the shot.
Several others looks to be professional renderings, including the examples posted in this article.
Toyota paid photographers and artists a lot of money to produce those pieces, and they have a right to tell that site to take em down.
A couple look amateur, but most aren’t. Matter of fact, almost all the cars posters on that site either are or use parts of professional images, and are clear violations of copyright law.
It is well within reason for Toyota to ask the site owner to remove posters violating their copyright. The owner of the site is supposed to validate that material submitted is legal to distribute before accepting it.
Also, why is Toyota expected to front the bill for all the work, just cause they have the money? If the artist that had created the artwork were dirt poor and barely managing to feed themselves, would Desktopnexus then be the bad guys then?
Harry Maugans decided to run a poster site. He decided to let people post images on his site. And he didn’t bother to check if the images posted their were violating copyright law.
There is nothing wrong with posting a picture of your own car online, but these pictures are clearly of professional origins. Harry need to pull almost every car poster from his site.
I think the legal department in Toyota has nothing to do (or significant) by the end of the year. And this stupid lawyer came out with a bid idea.. Hope somebody bigger than him in toyota will make him go to the unemployment line..
I’m getting very, very sick of all this IP copyright crud that’s coming out of corporations. I see no sense at all in this demand. Are they worried about rivals? They can buy the whole dang car and scan the heck out of it without worry!
No, this is probably some anal retentive copy-jock exec’s brilliant idea to make cash in an economic downturn.
Our solution? Don’t buy their cars for five years and they might, and I stress might, get the idea.
Okay, calmed down and re-read the article and comments. I was flaming in my last post but a little too much.
If the pictures are OWNED by Toyota then, fine, they can ask for them to be taken down. That’s their right.
But the thing that really ticked me off was the apparent response to the request of which ones to take down. Either they already know which ones are theirs or not. If they don’t know then they don’t have any right to have them taken down in the first place because it’s only their pictures that they have a right to make the request for, not the fan made ones. Their unclear claim is making everyone who happens to take a casual picture of one or draws about their cars a criminal. You think some execs wouldn’t love exactly that much control over what you do?
And that, people, is what I am angry about the most.
This is rediculous.
But so are the examples provided.
Both of those photos are ALMOST CERTAINLY from Toyota marketing material or at the very very very least a professional photo shoot.
I would practically guarantee that Chinese new year photo is from Toyota promotional materials.
Again. The request is idiotic. But both provided ‘fan pics’ are OBVIOUSLY professional studio shoots.
So unless those photos were taken by some fan with a large automobile photo studio someone’s copyright is being violated.
And there we were, mere minutes from a decision to buy a(nother) Toyota.. but methinks a Honda will be in the driveway instead. I must note to photoshop out all Ford and now Toyota badges on any cars in any of my photos that get posted online.
Check out BlackMustangClub.com’s conflict with Ford, whose summer intern lawyers-to-be (or so it seemed)demanded BMC take down their calendar (member photos of member cars) from CafePress. Someone in the Ford Customer relations hierarchy got wind of it and the demand faded away.
Wow. I won’t buy Toyota again.
I’m glad I found out about this because I was considering the purchase of a Scion for my business.
Looks like I’ll get a Honda.
sounds like to me toyota is trying to drive desktopnexus into the ground. I think toyota just wants to steel there domain name or the “nexus” part of it perhaps for a new car launch. the “Toyota nexus” ? what yoall think hmm maybe a nye hybrid or something
2005 used Toyota… see picture of my care… sh*t… ok I’ll meet you in a dark alley on the corner of Main and first to show you my car in person instead.
I thought we’d finished this kind of bullshit with Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Are we going to have to do it again?
you know what. Fuck toyota.
just take the images down, you know taking down their free advertisements are gonna hurt them.
so if toyota don’t wonna play ball, fuck em!
Meh!
There is no grounds in law to demand a takedown short of the DMCA, and the DMCA requires both specific identification and certification of the claim under penalty of perjury. If the notice is not in the proper form, it can simply be ignored or the notice sent back stating it fails to be in compliance.
Then those who uploaded the files can be notified and they can supply counter notices. Unless Toyota then sues within ten days and gets a restraining order, the material can be restored and the site has no liability.
There is also grounds for damages for false removal demands or false copyright claims. But it still requires someone willing to say that the other side is acting with misconduct. Otherwise they will continue to do so. Sometimes the only way you can protect your freedoms is to take risks.
1) The name of this site should be changed to “Copyrightfreak.com”
and
2) I’m glad my wife bought a Nissan.
This HAS TO be a joke.
The only thing stated at Toyota’s press website (where all the available imagery on Toyota’s models is available) is that if you want use their pictures you have to warn them.
That’s what I did for my http://prius-pt.com site, and I never got a single complaint about it.
They just want to know where you are using their pictures (and only their pictures, i.e. Toyota (C)), nothing else, nothing more.
It seems fair to me.
João Prates
I went to Toyota’s website, got their mailing address, and wrote them a letter which I will be sending out today! The letter says:
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
19001 South Western Ave.
Dept. WC11
Torrance, CA 90501
Subjects: Demand sent to Desktopnexus will not go unnoticed
Dear Toyota,
I came across a news article today that stated that Toyota sent a removal demand to Desktopnexus, a website that allows its users to upload computer desktop wallpapers for others to download. Some of these fan based wallpapers include photos of Toyota vehicles, which is under scrutiny of Toyota and for some reason warranted the furnishing of a DMCA take down notice to Desktopnexus.
When a car company makes high quality vehicles that cause people to enjoy such vehicles so much that they create fan based material showing images of those vehicles, it is a very good thing. These fan based creations serve the populace in such ways as allowing people to show ‘love’ for their Toyota vehicles, as well as providing free advertising for Toyota. Other people who download such creations show that there is even more interest in such vehicles, and may assist in convincing these people to buy a Toyota vehicle.
I personally have never downloaded a wallpaper from Desktopnexus, however, this blatant legal abuse of legal authority to send removal demands to a small Internet company for providing desktop wallpapers with images of Toyota vehicles goes too far. Because of such immoral actions, I have decided to no longer consider Toyota for my new family vehicle, or any other future vehicle needs and will be taking my business to another automotive company.
I hope that Toyota will stop such petty misuse of resources and abuse of laws that are meant to help companies and the people and, in the future, think of other ways to make use their vast resources for good. If Toyota does not, then I suspect that their business will suffer as more and more people become aware of these highly immoral, unwarranted actions that Toyota is taking against others.
Sincerely,
[NAME & ADDRESS OMITTED]
Of course, they’ll probably send lawyers after me for not agreeing with their philosophy. That would just end up hurting them even more since I can see the media swarming all over something like that.
Dood! Hook me up with the killer Toyota wallpaper warez!
So are they going to ask autotrader.com to remove any Toyota pictures as well?
The linked images make me think that big photo studios are cheap. To think that I was saving money for one all these years? I should get a new job if it can’t even pay for a commonly available photo studio.
I’ve been a loyal Toyota® owner many years, but no more. Honda, here I come.
WHAT!?!?!?
You mean if I had a Toyota and I took a photo of it and put it on my computer as wallpaper, *they* own the copyright on “my* photo? And if I were to share *MY* photo of *MY* car with others, I would be infringing *their* copyright???
I DON’T THINK SO!
Toyota has been doing this for a couple of years now. Going after websites, images, and content whenever they feel threatened or when some dealer complains.
Take a look at Toyotanation.com, a site with Toyota logos, images, and content, privatly owned and Toyota ignoes those obvious copyright violations. Again it goes back to the mindset that it’s okay until someone complains.
This on top of their slave labor practices? Goodbye Toyota. Hello Honda.
Fuck Toyota. I wouldnt own one if it was given to me. The clowns who let Toyota into NASCAR should be beat.
So when will I get sued for taking a picture of my Toyota vehicle and posting it online?
hmmmm… maybe Toyota doesn’t want us promoting their name and their products. should i take the Toyota logos off the car?
hold all Japanese people responsible
so typical. i would still buy Toyota cars, though.
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