Media Release: Diebold Coughs Up Cash in Copyright Case
For Immediate Release: Saturday, October 16, 2004
Contact:
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Will Doherty
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Executive Director
Online Policy Group
[email protected]
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Wendy Seltzer
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Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
[email protected]
Diebold Coughs Up Cash in Copyright Case
False Accusations Result in Legal Fees, Damages
San Jose, CA -
The Online Policy Group (OPG) and the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) capped an historic
victory in a copyright abuse case against electronic
voting machine manufacturer Diebold yesterday.
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 media release:
http://www.onlinepolicy.org/media/041016opgvdiebolddamages.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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