[Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Wikimedia Foundation Seeks Declaratory Relief in response to Legal Threats from Internet Brands

[Nathan]

Reading through the IB filing, they aren't even bothering to structure
a good case. It's all blather and no substance (claiming, for
instance, that the defendants have been unjustly enriched by
establishing a website with a name confusingly similar to WikiTravel;
when of course no such site exists, and there is no possible way for
the named defendants to have been enriched at all, unjustly or
otherwise).

I can see why the WMF described it as a transparent attempt at
intimidation. The conduct IB is trying to deter has primarily
consisted of criticizing IB and encouraging the development of an
alternative; viewed from that angle, and since there is no actual
underlying business conduct, I wonder if the complaint falls afoul of
California's strong anti-SLAPP statute. I suppose you'd have to find
some way of arguing that criticizing IB is in the public interest.


On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 8:26 AM, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> http://static.ibsrv.net/ibsite/pdf/2012/2012_9_4_Internet%20Brands%20Files%20To%20Protect%20Its%20Wikitravel%20Trademark%20From%20Deliberate%20Infringement.pdf
>
> It does indeed look the same as the copy served on Ryan:
>
> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Internet_Brands_v_William_Ryan_Holliday.pdf
>
> Compare and contrast with the Wikimedia PDF.
>
>
> My blog post, in which I emphasise that this is fundamentally an
> attack on CC by-sa and the freedom of free content:
>
> http://davidgerard.co.uk/notes/2012/09/06/internet-brands-sues-people-for-forking-under-cc-by-sa/
>
>
> - d.
>
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