NEWS WordPress yanks gay rights interview after DMCA request
Blogging platform WordPress has removed an interview published by a user aſter a “heterosexual rights” group filed a request under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Straight Pride UK, which uses the tagline “it’s great to be straight”, apparently demanded student blogger Oliver Chotham delete responses that it sent to him for an interview about gay rights.
According to Chotham, who wrote about the correspondence on August 11, Straight Pride UK told him he did not have permission to publish the answers, which were emailed to him in the past “few weeks”.
Aſter Chotham published the interview, the group allegedly threatened to use the DMCA to remove the post if he failed to delete it within seven days. He refused.
“I assumed this would all be swept under the carpet, and that their rather sad attempts to remove my article because it made them look stupid were all for naught,” Chotham said on his blog.
“I was wrong—within a few days WordPress caved to them without question, removing my article and telling me if I tried to publish it again I’d be suspended, but that I could challenge the takedown of my article.”
Internet providers are legally obliged to remove content that allegedly infringes third party rights. Although both parties in this case are from the UK, WordPress is a based in the US and subject to its laws.
WordPress apparently told Chotham that he could respond to the DMCA order by “consenting to local federal court jurisdiction, or if overseas, to an appropriate judicial body”.
“I’m a student. I don’t have the money, time, or patience to go through with potentially having to go to court over this. All in all, I just could not be bothered to challenge the decision. So I accepted the takedown,” he said.
An interesting talking point in this case, said Ed Komen, partner at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, is whether a US court would have been willing to transfer the case to the UK if Chotham had requested.
“In my experience, UK courts don’t like to get embroiled in US law—and rightly so, as the attorneys and judges aren’t familiar with US law.”
Komen said that although WordPress had complied with the DMCA law, the case raises questions about the doctrine of fair use.
“In the US we're very proud of our right to say what’s on our mind, no matter how foolish we may look when people hear what we have to say. I am a strong believer in encouraging public debate and that everyone should have the chance to make their views known. I think the courts would be receptive to a fair use argument, but it’s not clear to see how it would play out.”
Tere have been very few—maybe one or two— cases specifically involving a fair use defence to a DMCA request, Komen said, but the fair use doctrine is frequently contested in disputes about the use of quotations or portions of someone’s copyrightable work.
“Te cases are all very fact-specific, but courts are receptive if there is a legitimate argument for asserting fair use.”
Do you have your IP assets in a safe harbour?
Anchor your global IP portfolio on a solid and safe ground.
For more than 50 years,
our clients have been relying on us. Discover more:
http://www.dennemeyer.com/anchor-your-IP
TM
PORTFOLIO SERVICES SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS LEGAL SERVICES
www.worldipreview.com
DENNEMEYER First choice in IP
World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2013 17
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196