Congrats to Paul, Bill Purdy, and other folks on this list for helping to win a small (but important) victory against frivolous lawsuits brought to muzzle websites set up by critics. Here's the archive: http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=boychoir Speaking of adverse publicity: People using Google to search for American Boychoir will find this Politech thread in the first four hits, and those searching for American Boychoir School will see it as the second hit. Perhaps that counts as positive publicity, but I doubt it. -Declan --- Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 11:37:29 -0400 From: "Paul Levy" <PLEVYat_private> To: <declanat_private> Subject: American Boychoir School gives up Responding both to the threat of a real defense and the threat of more adverse publicity, American Boychoir School has withdrawn its lawsuit against John Hardwicke over his web site at www.americanboyschoirschool.com. The lawsuit was so lacking in merit that the mere appearance of Public Citizen on the scene, and citation of a handful of cases, was followed by dismissal. Although I am attaching our press release so folks can see our organizational statement on the subject, I want to pay special tribute to the impact of your publication on the litigation and the reaction of your readers to that publication, because I have no doubt that both played an important role in the School's decision to drop the litigation - for now at least. After you published your story, William Purdy published another site at http://www.AmericanBoyChoir.net, whose attack on the school was more biting because it was satirical rather than serious. Purdy's site had the Boychoir School worried, and apparently there were some exchanges between Purdy and the School whereby the School sought assurances from Purdy that he would remove the site if it stopped its litigation against Hardwicke. This is an excellent example of how an adverse response on the part of the Internet community to a lawsuit that threatened free speech values can help stop an abusive plaintiff in its tracks. The real pity is that this defense had to be made in the first place. I hold no illusions that adverse publicity alone can do the trick, and groups like Public Citizen cannot handle every case like this. If the school had decided to pursue the litigation, it would have consumed substantial resources on our part, and of course we have to weigh that risk before we decide to commit to any one defendant. And Hardwicke unsuccessfully sought help from many lawyers to prepare for his preliminary injunction hearing on May 1, before we decided to commit. One point worth mentioning, though - it is hard to believe that this case would have been filed in California, where the anti-SLAPP statute creates a financial incentive for lawyers to represent beleaguered speakers with the promise of attorney fee awards. And, if it had, Hardwicke would have found willing counsel without having to come to Washington DC. New Jersey has, interestingly enough, been the focus of many attacks on Internet free speech, such as the Dendrite case, the Donato case involving the Eye on Emerson, and now this case. We may only hope that New Jersey will consider enacting a SLAPP statute to provide more protection of free speech so that these cases will not be brought in the first place. For Immediate Release: Contact: Paul Alan Levy (202) 588-1000 April 30, 2003 Shannon Little (202) 588-7742 Public Citizen Forces Withdrawal of Suit Against Online Critic of Sexual Abuse at New Jersey Choir School WASHINGTON, D.C. - Following notice that Public Citizen would defend the free speech right of an alumnus to use the Internet to publicize sexual abuse of students and that the school's response to the abuse, the American Boychoir School in Princeton, N.J., today dropped its suit seeking to silence the former student. White Hall, Md., resident John Hardwicke suffered sexual abuse while a student at American Boychoir School in 1969 and 1970. After his lawsuit against the school was dismissed on grounds of immunity, Hardwicke created a Web site at www.americanboyschoir.com to detail sexual abuse at the school and decry its failure to respond to the problem. Hardwicke used a recent school directory to send e-mail to the parents of all current students urging them to visit his Web site. The school sued him in Superior Court in Mercer County, N.J., claiming that the use of the school'?s name in the site's domain name and its content might confuse Internet viewers. The school also said that the colors on his Web site were too similar to the school's official Web site and that Hardwicke's site and e-mail would hurt its reputation and cause students to withdraw from the school. The school also claimed that Hardwicke violated a New Jersey law by posting an excerpt from a letter about the school from the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services. Before Hardwicke could obtain a lawyer to defend himself, the trial judge granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting posting the state agency's letter and set a hearing on a preliminary injunction for May 1. Public Citizen, a nonprofit public interest organization that has a history of defending free speech on the Internet, notified the school's lawyer that it would represent Hardwicke at the hearing. Public Citizen attorney Paul Alan Levy argued that Hardwicke's Web site is protected by the First Amendment and does not violate trademark law, and he showed the school's lawyer cases establishing First Amendment protections for everything that Hardwicke had done. Levy also explained that Hardwicke could not be sued in New Jersey for a Web site that he had created in Maryland. Within days of Public Citizen's becoming involved, the school dismissed the lawsuit unconditionally. "Lawsuits should not be used as intimidation tactics to chill free speech on the Internet," Levy said. "The American Boychoir School recognized its error in suing and dropped the lawsuit quickly." ### Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.citizen.org. Paul Alan Levy Public Citizen Litigation Group 1600 - 20th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009 (202) 588-1000 http://www.citizen.org/litigation/litigation.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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