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List:       dmca-discuss
Subject:    [DMCA_Discuss]
From:       Steven Vallarian <svallarian () csa1 ! com>
Date:       2003-11-26 21:41:21
[Download RAW message or body]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

CONTACT: 
Rachel E. Matteo-Boehm 
Steinhart & Falconer LLP 
Phone: 415-442-0844 
Fax: 415-442-0856 
rmatteo-boehm@steinhart.com 

FATWALLET FILES LAWSUIT CHALLENGING BOTH RETAILERS' DEMANDS FOR REMOVAL OF
THANKSGIVING SALES PRICE WEB POSTINGS AND SUBPOENA SEEKING POSTERS'
IDENTITIES 

ROSCOE, IL., November 26, 2003 -- Faced with demands by national retailers
under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to remove Thanksgiving sales
information from its web site for the second year in a row, FatWallet, Inc.
filed a lawsuit yesterday in the United States District Court for the
Northern District of Illinois seeking a declaration that these demands
constitute an abuse of the DMCA and violate the First Amendment rights of
both FatWallet and its users (FatWallet, Inc. v. Best Buy Enterprise
Services, Inc., et al., Case No. 03C50508). 

The lawsuit was a response to "takedown" notices received by FatWallet over
the last few weeks from Best Buy, Kohl's Department Stores, and Target
Corporation, each of whom demanded that FatWallet remove from its web site
user postings containing Thanksgiving sales price information on the grounds
that the information was protected by copyright. Best Buy took things a step
further, sending FatWallet a subpoena requesting that it identify the person
who posted the information. Because the subpoena was not properly served and
suffered from other procedural defects, FatWallet notified Best Buy that it
would not identify the poster. Shortly before Thanksgiving 2002, FatWallet
received a similar subpoena from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., as well as takedown
notices from retailers including Best Buy, Target, K-Mart, Inc., and Jo-Ann
Stores. 

"The posting on a web site of sales price information is not the proper
subject of a subpoena or a takedown notice under the DMCA. Hopefully, by
filing this lawsuit, FatWallet will be able to put an end to this repeated
misuse of the DMCA's special subpoena and notice provisions and ensure that
its First Amendment rights, and the First Amendment rights of its users, are
fully protected," said Rachel Matteo-Boehm, an attorney with Steinhart &
Falconer LLP, one of the law firms representing FatWallet in the suit. 

"Our users should be able to freely post and discuss factual information,
like sales prices, without being sued or accused of copyright infringement,
and we hope that by filing this lawsuit, we will be protecting these
important consumer rights," said Tim Storm, FatWallet's founder and
President. 

FatWallet, Inc. is a venue for consumer-to-consumer communication as well as
business-to-consumer marketing. FatWallet is represented by Ms.
Matteo-Boehm, Roger Myers, and Eugene Pak of Steinhart & Falconer LLP in San
Francisco, California, and Troy E. Haggestad of Williams & McCarthy in
Rockford, Illinois. 


------------------

Anyone for a little precedent?

Thanks,
Steven Vallarian

_______________________________________________


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