Dear Sirs
Take down notice – Copyright infringement on https://www.guardianmeme.com/
We are Bristows LLP, a firm of solicitors, whose office is in London, United Kingdom. We refer to our email
correspondence of 14 August 2020 regarding this matter.
As you know, we act for Guardian News & Media Limited (“GNM”) whose registered office is PO Box 68164,
Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1P 2AP. GNM is the publisher of The Guardian and The Observer,
both of which are well-known and long-standing national newspapers published in the United Kingdom. GNM
also operates the website accessible at https://www.theguardian.com (the “Guardian Website”).
We are writing with regard to the website available at https://www.guardianmeme.com/ (the “Offending
Website”). We have been informed by Cloudflare Inc. that you are the hosting provider for the Offending
Website.
The copyright works
Our client is the owner or a licensee of the copyright which subsists in various photographs which it uses in
The Guardian, The Observer and/or on the Guardian Website. Of relevance to this letter is the copyright
which subsists in the photographs, the URLs of which are listed in the left hand column in the table in Annex
1 (which we refer to collectively as the “Works”).
The Works are original artistic works, pursuant to s.4(1)(a) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.
As the owner or licensee of the copyright which subsists in the Works, GNM has the right to copy, distribute
copies of and/or provide access to the Works, and to authorise the copying, distribution of copies and/or
provision of access to the Works. It also has certain rights to take action in the event of unauthorised acts of
infringement in relation to the Works.
Infringing acts of the operators of the Offending Website
It has recently come to GNM’s attention that the operators of the Offending Website have reproduced a large
number of photographs, including each of the Works, and communicated them to the public through their
publication on the Offending Website. The right hand column of the table in Annex 1 shows the URL at
which the Offending Website has stored and reproduced the Works. As a result, the operators of the
Offending Website have:

produced copies of the Works; and
communicated the Works to the public by uploading the copies to the Offending Website, which is publicly accessible in the United Kingdom.

Each time the Offending Website is accessed by a member of the public, each of the Works or a substantial
part of the Works is reproduced. For ease of reference, we enclose as Annex 2 a print out of the Offending
Website.
Our client has not authorised these acts of the operator of the Offending Website, and our client has no
reason to believe that the copyright owner (where that person is not our client) has authorised these acts.
Accordingly, the copying of the Works and the communication of the Works to the public infringes the
copyright which subsists in the Works.
Provision of notice and action required
The Offending Website is hosted by you, Linode-AP. GNM hereby gives you actual knowledge of the above
infringements of its rights within the meaning of Article 14(1)(a) of the E-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC)
(the “Directive”).
Pursuant to that Directive, we hereby request that you:

act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the Offending Website; and
disclose to us the name, physical and/or electronic address (and any other contact details which you have) of the operator of the
Offending Website so that, if necessary, GNM can bring legal proceedings against that individual or entity for their acts of copyright
infringement. If we receive confirmation within 7 days of the date of this letter that you have removed or disabled access to the
Offending Website, then our client will take no further action against you in respect of this matter. However, if the confirmation
at point 1 above is not received within 7 days, then our client reserves the right to issue proceedings against you seeking relief
for infringement of copyright. In addition to your potential liability for damages for copyright infringement, please note that
pursuant to Section 97A Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 our client may apply for an injunction requiring you to remove or
disable access to the Offending Website. If the information requested at point 2 above is not disclosed within 7 days, then our
client reserves the right to issue an application against you seeking disclosure of that information pursuant to the well-established
Norwich Pharmacal principles, on the basis that: (i) copyright infringement has been committed, (ii) you are mixed up (however innocently)
in those wrongs; and (iii) disclosure of the requested information is necessary to enable our client to seek redress for the copyright
infringement. If legal proceedings become necessary (which may be issued and served without further notice to you), the additional
remedies that may be available to our client include damages or an account of profits, legal costs and interest. In the meantime,
our client reserves all its rights in this matter. We understand that Linode-AP requires certain confirmations to be provided in
order to process this request. We therefore hereby confirm that:
We in good faith believe that the use of this material in the manner mentioned in this complaint is not authorised by the copyright
owner, their agent, or by the law; and
The information we have provided is accurate and we are authorised to act on behalf of the owner regarding exclusive use rights that
are allegedly being infringed. We look forward to hearing from you by 28 August 2020. Please provide your response by email
to [email protected] and [email protected].

Yours faithfully

Bristows LLP

Annex 1 to complaint – location of copyright protected works and location of infringement

Name of individual shown in image

The Works protected by copyright

Location of infringement

Carole Cadwalladr

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2018/03/21/Carole_Cadwalladr,_L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=3090286ae5ebc140c173a4908d41b46f

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/carolecadwalladr.png

Arwa Mahdawi

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/06/Arwa_Mahdawi,_L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=83dcb418395722d6b6cf4b70348c3170

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/arwamahdawi.png

Marina Hyde

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/3/13/1394733743785/MarinaHyde.png?w=300&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=79e98315ef2ff184f8181837c3c63c17

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/marinahyde.png

David Mitchell

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/3/13/1394733737125/DavidMitchell.png?w=300&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=0e18a5aaac7a3ab79b3cd2c7745f7b9f

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/davidmitchell.png

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Rhiannon-Lucy-Cosslett,-L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=6113dce05688aac65b3c02e171d89d99

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/rhiannonlucycosslett.png

Stuart Heritage

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2018/05/18/Stuart-Heritage.jpg?width=140&height=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=7ae6cc5286c9dd80cd0ebc0dc9be31c6

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/stuartheritage.png

Matthew D'Ancona

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Matthew-d-Ancona,-R.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=2bc998294f64743e29c9661535680b1c

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/matthewdancona.png

Owen Jones

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Owen-Jones,-L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=aa371e55ae8df24bc4e19efcf92be6cb

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/owenjones.png

Hadley Freeman

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/06/Hadley-Freeman,-R.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=4d844b0898c9843e66953e28eb8b0133

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/hadleyfreeman.png

Jonathan Freedland

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/06/Jonathan-Freedland,-L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=90f61dcd11d7b649b02bd894f077a689

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/jonathanfreedland.png

Martin Kettle

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Martin-Kettle,-L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=091ab82b07d8814ec94d168c36a0ec9f

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/martinkeetle.png

Sam Wollaston

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/4/17/1397749339384/SamWollaston.jpg?w=140&h=140&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=1f288e1ed11e8c8f65f7a844507221e6

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/samwollaston.png

Suzanne Moore

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Suzanne-Moore,-L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=3db3e2fae2042af7e777261b7cd39de5

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/suzannemoore.png

Zoe Williams

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Zoe-Williams,-L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=c98c04b3a657f69c62e4a8aeb91b082c

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/zoewilliams.png

Polly Toynbee

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Polly_Toynbee,_L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=99f83b768ea0aee5411d25e7ae208ded

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/pollytoynbee.png

Simon Jenkins

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Simon-Jenkins,-L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=1137fea1af60259ffbbc3908b7ab7419

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/simonjenkins.png

Paul Mason

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Paul-Mason,-L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=d405a81cd04abca99bb3b14226b43a84

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/paulmason.png

Katy Balls

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2018/05/31/Katy_Balls,_L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=20e537aeb6bf704ed9800c8a4dfd5154

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/katyballs.png

Gaby Hinsliff

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/06/Gaby-Hinsliff,-L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=88eaf702ea6b0d3168b5f02905b2c3ad

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/gabyhinsliff.png

Rafael Behr

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Rafael-Behr,-L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=8e79c86811898d1040e6d2f5d13af4ec

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/rafaelbehr.png

Nick Cohen

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Nick-Cohen,-R.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=fca131aba785b294af786d6f15640705

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/nickcohen.png

George Monbiot

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/06/George-Monbiot,-L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=990d2a7f6735413fbba7def7c0853ad2

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/georgemonbiot.png

Andrew Rawnsley

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/06/Andrew-Rawnsley,-L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=3e65eab601929acd1494be8ff01743ce

https://www.guardianmeme.com/i/andrewrawnsley.png