WordPress owners sue Straight Pride UK for alleged abuse of copyright laws

http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/nov/22/automattic-suing-straight-pride-uk

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Automattic, the company which runs the popular WordPress.org blogging platform, has announced that it is suing the anti-gay campaign group Straight Pride UK for allegedly abusing copyright laws.

In August, Straight Pride UK used a provision of US copyright law to make Automattic remove an interview the group had given with Oliver Hotham, a London-based student journalist. In doing so, Straight Pride UK claimed that the interview, which was given to Hotham in a document titled "press release", was a private release.

"Straight Pride UK thought as he was a student that we would add fun to it, dress it up and make him feel like a reporter by adding 'press release' to the document. This document also had a notice saying that it was not to be reproduced without consent," Peter Sidorove, the head of Straight Pride UK's sister organisation Straight Forward, told the Guardian from the group's Moscow headquarters at the time.

Paul Sieminski, Automattic's general counsel, told the Guardian in August that the move was "a case of abuse of the DMCA [digital millennium copyright act]" and that the company didn't think that taking the blogpost down was "the right result". On Thursday, he announced that the company will be filing a suit against Straight Pride UK for "knowingly materially misrepresent[ing]" a case of copyright infringement.

"These cases are both infuriating and increasingly common," he wrote in a blog post. "While there are no legal consequences (like fines) under the DMCA for copyright abusers, there is a provision that allows victims of censorship (and their web hosts) to bring legal action against those who submit fraudulent DMCA notices. So today, we’ve joined with Oliver … to take a small strike back at DMCA abuse.

"We’ll also be actively involved, on behalf of our users, in trying to change the law – both through court cases and in Congress – to make sure that everyone has the right to share their voice on the internet without threat of censorship."

Hotham, whose original interview revealed Straight Pride UK's admiration of Vladimir Putin "for his stance and support of his country's traditional values", says he is "extremely happy" with Automattic's decision.

"They had this problem with the way the website functioned, in that they weren't adequately protected against these fraudulent notices. So it's great that they're making these moves, even if they're mostly symbolic right now, and are pushing for legislation in congress to stop people abusing the DMCA to silence young journalists like myself."

Since the original incident, Straight Pride UK has erased its web presence.

The full text of the company's case against Straight Pride UK is available online.

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