FC: U-Haul and Amway also trying to censor critics' web sites

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[Obviously this phenomenon isn't particularly new, online or off. K-Mart 
was doing this some four or five years ago. But taken in toto, these cases 
show that trademark law has become disturbingly powerful and broad. --Declan]

**********

> From: "J. Scott McClain" <McClain () bondurant-mixson com>
> To: "'declan () well com'" <declan () well com>
> Subject: RE: Terminix abandons drive to censor criticism from web
> Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 16:21:52 -0500
> X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2448.0)
>
> The Servicemaster/Terminix press release & related links you distributed was
> particularly helpful.  I am providing pro bono representation to a pair of
> consumers in Athens, Georgia, in a similar corporate attempt to use the
> trademark laws to suppress consumer web page expression.  In this case, the
> corporate plaintiff is U-Haul.
>
> The web site at issue in our case is:
> http://www.coyotes.org/~consumer/uhell/index.html.  It details my client's
> unfortunate truck rental experience, provides a response form allowing
> readers to communicate their reactions directly to U-Haul, includes other
> consumer U-Haul horror stories, and provides consumer/civil liberties links
> of interest to the topic.  It also publishes & rebuts various U-Haul
> missives relating to the dispute.
>
> U-Haul has reacted with business judgment and concern for its customers
> similar to Terminix's.  The first round of the fight was a federal lawsuit
> in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, alleging
> trademark infringement, dilution and libel claims very similar to those
> alleged by Terminix.  My firm and the firm of Lewis & Roca in Phoenix
> represented my consumers in the Arizona case, successfully moving to dismiss
> that case for lack of personal jurisdiction.  About 9 months later, U-Haul
> filed round two in our home turf, the U.S. District Court for the Middle
> District of Georgia.  We have asserted various counterclaims, including
> Lanham Act & unfair business practices claims premised upon U-Haul's attempt
> to suppress protected consumer criticism with these frivolous trademark
> allegations.  The case is in discovery and is currently scheduled for jury
> trial in Athens this October.
>
> If you'd like any more information, please let me know & please pass this
> along to your readers if you think it would be of interest.
>
> **********************************
> J. Scott McClain
> Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, LLP
> 1201 W. Peachtree St., NW, Ste. 3900
> Atlanta, GA 30309
> (v) (404) 881-4138
> (f) (404) 881-4111
> (m) (678) 777-5256
> mcclain () bondurant-mixson com

*********


> Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 12:38:42 -0700 (MST)
> From: "James J. Lippard" <lippard () discord org>
> To: declan () well com
> Subject: Terminix / Amway
>
> Terminix may have given up, but Amway hasn't.
>
> Check out http://www.primenet.com/~lippard/amway/ for my side of exchanges
> with one of Amway's litigators.  I'll be happy to fax you a copy of their
> original complaint and their offer of a waiver of liability which I
> refused, if you're interested.
>
> They've been going after all mirror sites of Sidney Schwartz's "Amway: The
> Untold Story"; their offer to me required that I agree to never
> disseminate or encourage publication of anything that was on his
> site.  Since most of what was on his site (and is still on some of the
> live mirrors, including my slightly revised mirror at
> http://www.goodnet.com/~lippard/amway/) is a matter of public record, I
> found their offer totally unreasonable.
>
> One of the owners of another anti-Amway site recently had his hard drive
> subpoenaed in Amway's case against Proctor & Gamble (to which Schwartz was
> also named as a defendant).
>
> Jim Lippard        lippard () discord org       http://www.discord.org/
> Unsolicited bulk email charge:    $500/message.   Don't send me any.
> PGP Fingerprint:  0C1F FE18 D311 1792 5EA8  43C8 7AD2 B485 DE75 841C

*************

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology
To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------