How often are legal threats used to silence Internet activity? Help us to find out and counter baseless threats with the "chilling effects clearinghouse."
July 26, 2001 12:09 PM Subscribe
How often are legal threats used to silence Internet activity? Help us to find out and counter baseless threats with the "chilling effects clearinghouse." Harvard Cyber Law and the EFF combine forces to get a handle on over-zealous cease-and-desist orders issued over websites. Mattel has been so active in this area that they became the butt of jokes about it. Hopefully stupid stuff like this will start decreasing, or at least, there will be a group you can contact when you need support against these types of actions.
I'm especially concerned in those cases involving parody. From reading the EFF letter to Barney and his lawyers, it appears that one of the things helping them avoid "trademark dilution" is that the parody was non-commercial. If you had a site that did parodies, and you sold t-shirts off it, presumably this could be trademark dilution. Weird. But of course, I'm unfamiliar with the 2 Live Crew case; obviously their song must have been considered commercial, and they won.
But yeah, it seems to me that making fun of the litigious brands is a really important step. I think a ferocious lawsuit of the "Cease and Desist Barbie" parody would make Mattel look even worse, and be a good 'hook' for our fickle friends in the media. Plus, it would open the door to some bizarre metaparodies: parodying the lawsuit of the lawsuit parody. Phew...
Then again, the whole Adobe thing really got my head spinning. I know it's a different matter legally, but still. Poor ol' freedom of speech.
posted by D at 2:22 PM on July 26, 2001
But yeah, it seems to me that making fun of the litigious brands is a really important step. I think a ferocious lawsuit of the "Cease and Desist Barbie" parody would make Mattel look even worse, and be a good 'hook' for our fickle friends in the media. Plus, it would open the door to some bizarre metaparodies: parodying the lawsuit of the lawsuit parody. Phew...
Then again, the whole Adobe thing really got my head spinning. I know it's a different matter legally, but still. Poor ol' freedom of speech.
posted by D at 2:22 PM on July 26, 2001
Nintendo gets an ISP to pull a site that once had a metatag reference to Pokemon.
WHAT!?!? What if I've bought every single Pokemon--WHATEVER and I'm such a huge fan that I want to make a site where I write stories about them, or take pictures of them, or WHATEVER you do with them?
Are we really only allowed to hand over our money to corproations but to never ever say the name of the Product unless the company can somehow link my communication of the Product to some beneficial cost-benefit-analysis?
These kinds of Corporate lawyers are simply idiots, as are their masters...
posted by fooljay at 9:24 PM on July 26, 2001
WHAT!?!? What if I've bought every single Pokemon--WHATEVER and I'm such a huge fan that I want to make a site where I write stories about them, or take pictures of them, or WHATEVER you do with them?
Are we really only allowed to hand over our money to corproations but to never ever say the name of the Product unless the company can somehow link my communication of the Product to some beneficial cost-benefit-analysis?
These kinds of Corporate lawyers are simply idiots, as are their masters...
posted by fooljay at 9:24 PM on July 26, 2001
OK fine - amass the data and build some resource/support groups...
but...
Let's keep the Lionheart gung-ho fist-in-the-air thing at low volume unless and until the support is mobile, well-funded, and uber-hand-holding. See, I've been in the corporate cross-hairs, staring at 8 bored lawyers in 16,000 dollars worth of suit, and it is a very scary place to be if your uncle isn't Alan M. Dershowitz. My transgression was a tad more serious - it involved some unauthorized creative manipulation of code that wasn't exactly mine (hey - I was young and full of hot jargon) - but my point is that unless you've actually experienced the Great American Threat, you can't really know how shrivelling it can be. The thought of suits and lawyers and federal courthouses can turn your fist into a groveling handshake before you know it. And it doesn't help to have high-minded safely-out-of-range idealists milling about in casual wear telling you to fight the good fight.
In my case, I was wrong, but even had I been right, I would've apologized, sniveled, and delivered unto them a black-market firstborn. The point is belabored, but fighting a company with relatively infinite resource is a luxury most of us cannot afford. (I apologized, got wrist-slapped, and was offered a job)
Pick your fights, and try, if possible, to fight on your own turf...
If truly effective support can be guaranteed, and if fighting the battle is truly important to you - IOW, if you have the resource and the will - then by all means, sound the trumpet and charge. Otherwise, guiltlessly capitulate, and have a nice day.
Of course, always hold a grudge...
posted by Opus Dark at 12:25 AM on July 27, 2001
but...
Let's keep the Lionheart gung-ho fist-in-the-air thing at low volume unless and until the support is mobile, well-funded, and uber-hand-holding. See, I've been in the corporate cross-hairs, staring at 8 bored lawyers in 16,000 dollars worth of suit, and it is a very scary place to be if your uncle isn't Alan M. Dershowitz. My transgression was a tad more serious - it involved some unauthorized creative manipulation of code that wasn't exactly mine (hey - I was young and full of hot jargon) - but my point is that unless you've actually experienced the Great American Threat, you can't really know how shrivelling it can be. The thought of suits and lawyers and federal courthouses can turn your fist into a groveling handshake before you know it. And it doesn't help to have high-minded safely-out-of-range idealists milling about in casual wear telling you to fight the good fight.
In my case, I was wrong, but even had I been right, I would've apologized, sniveled, and delivered unto them a black-market firstborn. The point is belabored, but fighting a company with relatively infinite resource is a luxury most of us cannot afford. (I apologized, got wrist-slapped, and was offered a job)
Pick your fights, and try, if possible, to fight on your own turf...
If truly effective support can be guaranteed, and if fighting the battle is truly important to you - IOW, if you have the resource and the will - then by all means, sound the trumpet and charge. Otherwise, guiltlessly capitulate, and have a nice day.
Of course, always hold a grudge...
posted by Opus Dark at 12:25 AM on July 27, 2001
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Nintendo gets an ISP to pull a site that once had a metatag reference to Pokemon.
beware of your meta's
posted by brucec at 2:04 PM on July 26, 2001