Segfault and User Friendly threatened

Blank Space wrote in stating "Someone claiming to be representing a corporation has demanded that Segfault and UserFriendly remove parodies using its trademarked name from their sites." Anyone know which corporation? In other nonsense today, Niels Provos writes "Theo de Raadt, OpenBSD Project leader, is being threatened with legal action if he does not turn over his domain theos.com to the Theos Software Corporation (the proud makers of a new 32-bit OS that can support more than 200 users at the same time!). The said company only needed about three years to find out about it and are so gracious to offer $35 as compensation, so that he can register another domain." Theo de Raadt provides contact information on his website.

Fair Comment. Sorry, Big Nameless Corporation.

Put simply, they cannot make them stop. Parodies have long been protected from libel/slander suits, on the grounds of fair comment. I just hope that the guys at segfault and User Friendly know that, and don't just kowtow to whatever incarnation of the evil empire threatens them now.

Who it is...

A LITTLE MORE ON THE DEATH STAR
09:50 PST 24 MAR 1999
Hey, thanks to everyone who's written in voicing their support for UF in the upcoming litigation. I have to make a couple of things clear, however. 1) At this point I can't divulge who it is, and maybe hinting was a bad idea. 2) Media attention right now isn't appropriate, so contacting Reuters might do harm. 3) I promise to keep you all updated on this. I'm waiting for a registered letter that will confirm the e-mail. Apparently I'll be getting it soon.

THE EVIL EMPIRE HAS REARED ITS UGLY HEAD
08:25 PST 24 MAR 1999
I can not believe the e-mail I got earlier today. It's from you-know-who's legal department. For legal reasons I can't reproduce the entire letter, but here's the gist of it: "You will cease and desist all negative connotations within your cartoon regarding [our client], or we will initiate a suit to claim damages for libel and defamation." Not only does this *irk* me, I'm going to call their bluff. Don't be concerned folks; my own lawyers say they don't have a leg to stand on, but for reasons not entirely clear to me I can't mention my accusers by name until proceedings are under way. I'm sure you can figure out *who* it is I mean.


I'd assume by the first (date wise) reference that the "evil empire" is usually microsoft. But put together with the 2nd message title, "Death Star" it almost makes you think its someone associated with Starwars, and with that long segment about it, it almost makes me wonder, there havent been any Microsoft parities in a while.
Its not FreeBSD, his current parity, he has USED WITH PERMISSION stuff, and I'm sure its not one of the Linux distros :)..

My guesses are: Microsoft or Lucus Arts...
Stan "Myconid" Brinkerhoff

It's an empty threat.

Indeed, I don't know who the moron that got the idea of suing segfault/UF was, but they managed to forget at least two principles:

1. Parodies of political or public figures has been explicitly protected by the Supreme Court on at least 4 different occasions. Very heavy precedents here. And there are dozens of cases that the various Circuit Courts have ruled where they include public companies as legal targets of such parodies. All protected under the 1st Amendment.
2. To prove libel in the US, you have to prove at least 3 things: (a) that the speech was false (b) that the speaker knew it was false and (c) it caused measurable damage. The second is hard to prove, and the third is even more difficult. However, even here, parodies are afforded extra protection. For all of you who missed The People vs. Larry Flynt: parodies are protected as Free Speech even if they fulfill the previous 3 conditions if the speaker shows that no one would believe that the parody was true. Essentially, if everyone (ie "the average reader") knows that the speech is false, then it's protected (even if it's otherwise libelous).

Even if they were suing simply as a way to "win-by-bankrupt", they should be careful. The thing that this company seems to forget is that it's becoming much simpler these days to counter-sue for malicious damages. The courts are very receptive to summary judgments in cases like this, and, depending on the judge, I wouldn't be suprised if it's thrown out immediately, and counter damages awarded without even a basic trial. I'd really like to see Illiad and Segfault make a bundle off of them.

By the way, the "Death Star" thing actually got me to thinking of AT&T, even before LucasArts. Getting old....

-Erik

The online/Open Source community needs weasels.

I'm sorry to say this, but I think the time has come for some kind of fund or program to be set up so that lawyers can be hired to defend when needed against stupid lawsuits like this. I'm not sure if the comic strips would qualify for such help, but clearly the Internet is entering a new arena with different rules than what came before.

Corporations with lots of money and lawyers are able to threaten and pick off small opponents on the Web like these comic strips and even individual coders or small companies. Look at all the bogus patents that have been filed lately. The terrible laws being proposed. We know most of these things are completely bogus, but who can fight them? Individual coders and small sites just don't have the money to put up even a small defense against a large corporate legal department with something to gain.

I think a legal fund needs to be set up, or even a staff that can used to challenge patents or fight off dumb lawsuits. Perhaps OSI can set up a marketing division for Open Source apps and get a cut of revenues from products that use the marketing service...the proceeds could go towards the funding of legal services, which would be available on request under certain conditions.

Microsoft is at risk because the open-source/free-software movement is changing the rules of the software business and yanking the rug out from under Microsoft's feet. But, the other side of the coin is that the new spotlight and the "mainstreaming" of open-source makes things like lawsuits and patents much more relevant to the open-source community than they used to be. The rules are changing for open-source too, and the community has to be able to respond, or it's possible that high-profile projects like GNU, Linux, KDE, GNOME and Apache won't be able to continue developing without being plagued with legalities that are like maggots on a rotting carcass.

Thanks if you're still reading. This is a lot longer than I meant it to be, but I had to get this off my chest. The rules are changing for open-source, just as the rules age changing for Microsoft et al. We know Microsoft will make some kind of response...what response will open-source make?


(Is this long enough to count as a feature? :)

This seems very suspicious to me...

(Assuming that Mikey$oft are the ones who (allegedly) wrote this letter, which isn't certain but does seem to have been implied...)

Let's step back and look at this for a moment, shall we?

No matter how badly they've mucked up the antitrust case in the court, Mikey$oft is not stupid. Certainly not stupid enough to pull a stunt like this.

Let's face it, this is the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave, and one of our greatest hot-buttons, as a nation, is the freedom of speech issue, especially when a Big, Evil, Nasty Corporation wants to take it away from The Little Guy. Mikey$oft might just as well adopt the slogan "We torture babies"--it could not get them too much more reviled than something of this nature.

As some of my friends have been saying...if this goes to trial, just think of the legal defense fund. Not only do sysadmins (many of whom are the strip's target audience) tend to make a fairly good income, but companies--especially Mikey$oft's competitors--will be falling all over themselves to get the positive publicity. "IBM contributes $1,000,000 to Internet Humorist's Defense Fund".

There's also the matter that this was an email--not a registered letter or other normal means by which you would think a lawyer would deliver such an ultimatum.

I'll admit, I could be wrong, and I have been before, and I'll be the first to shake my head in consternation if this is really real...but it sure smells like a hoax to me.