Fair Use

Crook v. 10 Zen Monkeys

Submitted by on

Date: 

09/19/2006

Threat Type: 

Correspondence

Party Issuing Legal Threat: 

Michael Crook

Party Receiving Legal Threat: 

10 Zen Monkeys

Type of Party: 

Individual

Type of Party: 

Organization

Court Type: 

Federal

Court Name: 

United States District Court for the Northern District of California

Case Number: 

4:06CV06800

Legal Counsel: 

Corynne McSherry, Jason Schultz (for Diehl, in the related lawsuit)

Legal Counsel: 

Michael Crook (Pro se, in the related lawsuit)

Legal Claims: 

Copyright Infringement

Web Site(s) Involved: 

10 Zen Monkeys

10 Zen Monkeys: In the Company of Jerkoffs

Publication Medium: 

Website

Relevant Documents: 

PDF icon diehl complaint.pdf
PDF icon diel dismissal order.pdf
PDF icon diehl joint stipulation of dismissal without prejudice.pdf
PDF icon 2006-10-30-Diehl's Counter Notification.pdf
PDF icon 2006-09-22-Crook's DMCA Notification.pdf

Status: 

Concluded

Disposition: 

Lawsuit Filed
Settled (total)

Description: 

On September 18, 2006, Lou Cabron, a contributor to the webzine, "10 Zen Monkeys," wrote an article about Michael Crook, the operator of "craigslist-perverts.org," a website that publicized responses to fake personal advertisements posted on Craigslist. In the article, Cabron posted a still photographic image of Crook from a newscast on Fox News. Cabron's article, called "In the Company of Jerkoffs," was critical of Crook's controversial tactics.

The next day, Crook sent a DMCA take-down notice to the website's internet service provider (ISP), claiming that 10 Zen Monkey's use of the photographic image violated his copyright in it. In response to the notice, the ISP made 10 Zen Monkeys take down the image.

10 Zen Monkeys then changed its ISP and re-posted the image. Crook sent another take-down notification to the new ISP on September 22, 2006. On October 30, 2006, Jeff Diehl, the publisher of 10 Zen Monkeys, sent a counter-notification to the ISP pursuant to notice-and-takedown procedures found at 17 U.S.C. § 512(g),requesting that the image be re-posted. On November 15, 2006, the ISP re-posted the image because Crook had not filed a lawsuit "seeking a court order to restrain the subscriber from engaging in infringing activity relating to the material on the service provider’s system or network," as required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(2)(C).

Represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Diehl then filed a lawsuit against Crook in federal court in California, claiming that Crook violated Section 512(f) of the DMCA, which imposes liability for making knowing, material misrepresentations in a DMCA takedown notice. Diehl argued that Crook knowingly misrepresented that he was the owner of the copyrighted image because the copyright clearly belonged to Fox News. Diehl also contended that Crook knowingly misrepresented that posting the image infringed his copyright because the posting of the image was a fair use. Diehl also claimed that Crook's actions constituted tortious interference with contract and unfair business practices under California law.

In March 2007, Diehl and Crook agreed to a settlement. As part of the settlement, Crook agreed to withdraw his DMCA notices, take a copyright law course, and record a video apology.

 

Related Links: 

10 Zen Monkeys: EFF and 10 Zen Monkeys v. Michael Crook

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Diehl v. Crook

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Craigslist Sex Ad Scammer Seeks to Silence Critics

Electronic Frontier Foundation: DMCA Abuser Apologizes for Takedown Campaign

Michael Crook's Video Statement (per the settlement)

Jurisdiction: 

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

CMLP Notes: 

SB Reviewed

Exodus Int'l v. Watt

Submitted by on

Date: 

03/01/2006

Threat Type: 

Correspondence

Party Issuing Legal Threat: 

Exodus International

Party Receiving Legal Threat: 

Justin Watt

Type of Party: 

Organization

Type of Party: 

Individual

Legal Counsel: 

Mathew Staver

Legal Counsel: 

Laurence Pulgram

Legal Claims: 

Copyright Infringement
Trademark Infringement

Web Site(s) Involved: 

Justinsomnia

Publication Medium: 

Blog

Relevant Documents: 

PDF icon watts cease and desist response.pdf
PDF icon watt cease and desist letter.pdf

Status: 

Concluded

Description: 

Mr. Watt altered a photograph of a billboard that he found on the website of "ex-gay" ministry, Exodus International, and posted it on his blog. The billboard originally read "Gay? Unhappy? www.exodus.to", and Watt altered it to read "Straight? Unhappy? www.gay.com".

Through counsel, Exodus sent Watt a cease-and-desist letter, claiming that his alteration and use of the billboard image infringed Exodus's trademark and copyright rights. The letter demanded that he immediately remove the image from his website.

Watt contacted the ACLU, which put him in touch with attorneys at Fenwick & West, who wrote a response to Exodus on Watt's behalf. Watt's response letter argued, with respect to the copyright claim, that his use of the photograph constituted fair use. With respect to the trademark claim, Watt's letter argued that he did not make a commercial use of Exodus's mark, and furthermore that there was no likelihood of confusion as to the source or sponsorship of the image posted on Watt's blog because his message was so fundamentally antithetical to Exodus's message.

Exodus's lawyers subsequently announced that they would not be suing Watt.

Related Links: 

ACLU: Exodus Parody

ACLU: ACLU Defends Blogger's Right to Parody "Ex-Gay" Group

ACLU Case Profile

USA Today: Christian Group Back Off Case Against Blog Parody

The New York Times: Both Sides in Parody Dispute Agree on a Term: Unhappy

 

Jurisdiction: 

Content Type: 

Subject Area: 

Legal Blogger Threatened by Big Law Firm Over Posting of Ridiculously Bad Song

Submitted by on

David Lat runs a legal tabloid blog called Above the Law, which provides "news and gossip about the profession's most colorful personalities and powerful institutions, as well as original commentary on breaking legal developments." No stranger to notoriety in the past, he's recently become the center of attention in a humorous episode involving a leaked "celebratory anthem" created by the law firm, Nixon Peabody, when the firm made Fortune magazine's 2007 list of the best companies to work for. The song is embarrassingly bad -- As Frank Pasquale of Concurring Opinions puts it, "think 'Up With People' meets Sheena Easton meets B of A's version of U2's One." Lat himself writes:

On the musical merits, the song itself is just as horrific as the idea of a law firm theme song. Yes, we miss the eighties, but not this much. The lyrics include such gems as "Everyone's a winner at Nixon Peabody" (the chorus) and "It's all about the team, it's all about respect, it all revolves around integri-tee yeah." . . . Check it out for yourself below. But we're warning you: even though the Nixon Peabody anthem is dreadful, it's as catchy as HPV. If that "everyone's a winner" chorus gets stuck in your head for the rest of today, don't blame us.

Subject Area: 

Creative Commons Announces Canadian Podcasting Legal Guide

Submitted by on

Creative Commons of Canada recently announced that it has published a Canadian version of the well written and highly recommended Podcasting Legal Guide. As Colette Vogele, who helped author the original Podcasting Legal Guide, notes:

[T]he authors did nearly a complete re-write of the guide because copyright, trademark and publicity rights receive different treatment in Canada. One example, is that Canada has many collecting societies that need to be understood if licensing music from Canadian artists (see page 15). This adapted guide for Canada also includes a "copyright matrix" (page 16) and a "rights clearance flow chart" (page 19), both of which will help explain the various rights and who get's paid for what in the world of music licensing.

The Canadian version, with the intriguing subtitle "Northern Rules For The Revolution," is available in both html format and pdf format.

 

Jurisdiction: 

Subject Area: 

Gossip Site Perezhilton.com Temporarily Shutdown Due to Copyright Claims

Submitted by on

CNN is reporting (via the Associated Press) that Internet gossip columnist Perez Hilton's site was shut down for several hours after his hosting company received complaints that the site contained copyrighted photos of celebrities. According to CNN:

Subject Area: 

Content Fingerprinting and Citizen Journalism

Submitted by on

Editor & Publisher details a new venture between the Associated Press and Attributor, a service provider that will fingerprint and track the use of AP content on the web.

The Associated Press is moving to protect its content by partnering with the technology company Attributor, which will track AP material across the Internet. The arrangement will allow Attributor to "fingerprint" AP copy down to a level where it can be identified anywhere on the Web.

"Our goal is to get a feeling for some of the useful ways to monitor content," said Srinandan Kasi, vice president, general counsel and secretary at the AP. "We are looking at it not just to protect our rights but to derive some intelligence."

Subject Area: 

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