The offices of Bornstein and Bornstein are notorious for running “boot camps” advising San Francisco landlords on legal loopholes for evicting long-term tenants so they can rent to the high-flying tech sector.
Protesters appeared at one of these events, and their actions and the firm’s response were recorded and posted to Youtube by Jackson West, a volunteer for the excellent San Francisco Tenant’s Union. Subsequently, Bornstein and Bornstein sent a copyright takedown to Youtube, on what can only be called spurious — if not outright fraudulent — grounds.
In an article on San Francisco Appeal, West documents how the Bornsteins made a series of improper and confusing demands of him as quid-pro-quo for withdrawing the claim, and threatened to sue him if he published an article about the events. Eventually, these negotiations collapsed. It seems likely that Youtube will reinstate the video, but the claim against West is a “strike” against him in Youtube’s terrible three-strikes system, meaning that it could deny him access to posting Youtube videos altogether, something he relies on for his livelihood.
Infamous SF Eviction Lawyers Use DMCA Claim to Silence Protest Video
(Thanks, Jackson!)