[Infowarrior] - Chamber of Commerce invokes DMCA

[Richard Forno]

EFF: Chamber of Commerce Takes Aim at Yes Men Business Group Tries to  
Take Down Parody Site After Embarrassing Prank
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/10/22

San Francisco - Attorneys for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have issued  
a takedown notice in an attempt to silence a parody website that was  
posted in support of the Yes Men's embarrassing prank poking fun at  
the Chamber's stance on climate change legislation.

In a letter sent to the Chamber's attorneys today, the Electronic  
Frontier Foundation (EFF) demands that the baseless claims be  
withdrawn immediately.

"We are very disappointed the Chamber of Commerce decided to respond  
to political criticism with legal threats," said EFF Staff Attorney  
Corynne McSherry. "The site is obviously intended to highlight and  
parody the Chamber's controversial views, which have sparked political  
debate and led high-profile members to withdraw their support from the  
Chamber."

The effort to take down the website -- currently located at www.chamber-of-commerce.us 
  -- comes on the heels of a Yes Men prank that made international  
news this week. The group put out a press release and held a spoof  
news conference on Monday, claiming that the Chamber of Commerce had  
reversed its position and would stop lobbying against a climate bill  
currently in the Senate. Several news outlets reported the story  
before determining it was a prank.

Yesterday afternoon, attorneys for the Chamber sent a Digital  
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice to the site's upstream  
provider, Hurricane Electric Internet Services, claiming that the site  
constituted copyright infringement and demanding that the site be shut  
down immediately and that the creator's service be canceled.

"Parody is a well-established right, protected under copyright law and  
the First Amendment," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman.  
"Hopefully, the Chamber will reconsider its position and realize that  
such strong-arm tactics are inappropriate and counter-productive."

For the full text of the letter:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/ip_freespeech/yesmenletter.pdf

For the full text of the DMCA takedown notice:
http://www.eff.org/files/chamber-dmca-notice.pdf

For the parody site:
http://www.chamber-of-commerce.us

Contacts:

Corynne McSherry
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
corynne at eff.org

Matt Zimmerman
Senior Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
mattz at eff.org