Diebold loses a court case! Not *mine* yet, but it's kewl!

[Jim March]

Our favorite crooked voting company Diebold has lost a MAJOR copyright
case:

http://www.eff.org/legal/ISP_liability/OPG_v_Diebold/20040930_Diebold_SJ_Order.pdf

or here's a summary:

http://www.linuxelectrons.com/article.php/20040930201813382

Short form: Diebold's internal documents (such as these excerpts):

http://www.equalccw.com/sscomment.html

http://www.equalccw.com/sscomments2.html

http://www.equalccw.com/sscomments3.html

...and program code:

http://www.equalccw.com/dieboldtestnotes.html

...were floated all over the 'net last year, showing all kinds of horror.

Diebold filed cease'n'desist notices under the DMCA such as mine linked here:

http://www.equalccw.com/liebold.html

A court has now ruled that Diebold wrongfully abused the DMCA and has punished THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER (Diebold) at the hands of the alleged "infringer".

This is WAY into "man bites dog" territory and a hideous PR blow!

 

[4570Rick]

You continually bring a smile to my face.

 

[Jim March]

*My* cease'n'desist went to my wildly pro-freedom ISP (Internet Service Provider), who notified me before taking my site down and gave me the 24 hours I needed to crank out a "counter-notification" (see also the last link above). Note how my hastily-drafted counter-note under the DMCA dovetails closely with Judge Fogel's thinking on the status of Diebold's "copyright" almost a year later . Hey, for a non-lawyer, I got this crap *pegged* .

Unfortunately, with zero server downtime and no legal costs, I can't sue Diebold for the improper cease'n'desist notice because I'm not damaged. The plaintiffs in this case would have lost their LARGE website (ALL of Indymedia!) had they not filed this case which caused their ISP to hold off "pulling the plug" until the legal issues were settled. So they've got legal costs coming from Diebold .

 

[Jim March]

Wired is also covering it:

http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65173,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

This is an absolute legal first.

 

[foghornl]

Jim, I only hope you have your 30-layer Kevlar undies on all the time...

Way yo go....

To borrow a few lines from Don Henly...
"Kick 'em when they're up...
Kick 'em when they're down...
Kick 'em when they shift...
Kick 'em all around....
Dirty little secrets...
Dirty little lies....."