Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release
For Immediate Release: Friday, October 15, 2004
Contact:
Wendy Seltzer
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
wendy@xxxxxxx
+1 415 436-9333 x125 (office), +1 914 374-0613 (cell)
Jennifer Granick
Clinical Director
Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society
jennifer@xxxxxxxxxxx
+1 650 724-0014
Diebold Coughs Up Cash in Copyright Case
False Accusation of Infringement Results in Hefty Payment
of Legal Fees, Damages
California - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
capped its historic victory in a copyright abuse case
against electronic voting machine manufacturer Diebold
today. The corporation agreed to pay $125,000 in damages
and fees. The settlement, a win for free speech advocates,
comes after a California district court found that Diebold
had knowingly misrepresented that online commentators,
including Indymedia and two Swarthmore college students,
had infringed the company's copyrights.
"It makes me happy that students in this situation in the
future won't have to worry about big corporations breathing
down their necks," said Nelson Pavlosky, one of the
students.
Diebold is 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 section also
stipulates that anyone who issues such frivolous threats
must pay damages, including costs and attorneys' fees, to
those harmed by the misrepresentations.
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 the
two 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. OPG
refused to remove them in the name of free speech.
"The risk of substantial damages and fees should make
companies pause before sending unfounded copyright
threats," said EFF staff attorney Wendy Seltzer. "Plus ISPs
can fight back against these false claims without taking a
financial hit."
"As a nonprofit ISP it's great to have
legal recourse when a company threatens us or our clients
with frivolous lawsuits," added OPG Executive Director Will
Doherty.
EFF is a member-supported nonprofit which represented OPG
and the Swarthmore students pro bono. Thanks to the
settlement, Diebold will pay the costs of the case.
For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_10.php#002009
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/
-end-
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