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Media Release: Online Policy Group Wins Copyright Case Against Diebold
For Immediate Release: Thursday, September 30, 2004
Contact:
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Will Doherty
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Executive Director
Online Policy Group
press@onlinepolicy.org
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Wendy Seltzer
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Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
wendy@eff.org
Online Policy Group Wins Copyright Case Against Diebold
Lawsuit Provides Recourse for ISPs Defending Free Speech
San Jose, CA -
In a landmark case in which the Online Policy
Group sued voting machine manufacturer Diebold, Inc., a
California district court has determined that Diebold
incorrectly claimed that online commentators had
infringed the company's copyrights. Diebold is thus the
first company to be held liable for violating section 512(f)
of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which makes
it unlawful to use DMCA takedown threats when the copyright
holder knows that infringement has not actually occurred.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Center for
Internet and Society Cyberlaw Clinic at Stanford Law School
sued on behalf of nonprofit Internet Service Provider (ISP)
Online Policy Group (OPG) and two Swarthmore students to
prevent Diebold's abusive copyright claims from silencing
public debate about voting.
Diebold sent dozens of cease-and-desist letters to ISPs
hosting leaked internal documents revealing flaws in
Diebold's e-voting machines. The company claimed copyright
violations and used the DMCA to demand that the documents be
taken down. One ISP, OPG, refused to remove them in the name
of free speech, and thus became the first ISP to test
whether it would be held liable for the actions of its users
in such a situation.
"This decision is a victory for free speech and for
transparency in discussions of electronic voting
technology," said Wendy Seltzer, an EFF staff attorney who
worked on the case. "Judge Fogel recognized the fair use of
copyrighted materials in critical discussion and gave
speakers a remedy when their speech is chilled by improper
claims of copyright infringement."
OPG Executive Director Will Doherty said, "This ruling means
that we have legal recourse to protect ourselves and our
clients when we are sent misleading or abusive takedown
notices."
In his decision, Judge Jeremy Fogel wrote, "No reasonable
copyright holder could have believed that the portions of
the email archive discussing possible technical problems
with Diebold's voting machines were protected by
copyright... the Court concludes as a matter of law that
Diebold knowingly materially misrepresented that Plaintiffs
infringed Diebold's copyright interest."
For this media release:
http://www.onlinepolicy.org/media/040930opgvdieboldorder.shtml
Online Policy Group v. Diebold case archive:
http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/legpolicy/opg_v_diebold/
About OPG:
The Online Policy Group (OPG) is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to online policy research, outreach, and action on
issues such as access, privacy, the digital divide, and
digital defamation. The organization fulfills its motto of
"One Internet With Equal Access for All" through programs
such as donation-based email, email list hosting, website
hosting, domain registrations, colocation services,
technical consulting, educational training, and refurbished
computer donations. The California Community Colocation
Project (CCCP) and QueerNet are OPG projects. OPG focuses on
Internet participants' civil liberties and human rights,
like access, privacy, safety, and serving schools,
libraries, disabled, elderly, youth, women, and sexual,
gender, and ethnic minorities. Find out more at
http://www.onlinepolicy.org/
About EFF:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at
http://www.eff.org/
About IndyMedia:
Indymedia is an international network working to build a
decentralized, non-commercial media infrastructure to
counter an increasingly consolidated corporate media.
Indymedia collectives have spread rapidly since the WTO
protests in Seattle 1999, with IMC groups now working
throughout North & South America, the Middle East, Europe,
Africa, Asia and Oceania, accessible through
http://www.indymedia.org/
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