Rattle wrote:
] ] Digital Millennium Copyright Act charges may force an
] ] independent Internet service provider and its
] ] controversial clients offline next month.
] ]
] ] Staehle said Verio is pulling the plug on The Thing due
] ] to charges that one of its clients violated the DMCA by
] ] posting a parody website mocking Dow Chemical company.

Some comments:

1. Moonpie posted the original parody to MemeStreams. Search his blog.

2. Slashdot is linking Dow's claim.

The DMCA claim is bogus. Its legal to use intellectual property in a parody.

The fraud/slander is probably not bogus. Read the slashdot thread. Half the commentators can't keep the actual Dow statements and the RTmark statements apart in their heads. You can't represent yourself as someone else with the intent of damaging their reputation.

3. The DMCA provisions that require an ISP to shut down content which is in violation of a copyright were not written with this sort of situation in mind. They were thinking "Someone posts MP3s to a website. Artist complains. ISP takes down website. No one needs to go to court." However, this is an example of speech which is very much in a gray area. When there are questions, there ought to be a preliminary injunction from a court. The law ought to err on the side of requiring involvement from a court too often. This law needs tweeking.

4. There are plenty of examples of legal speech which has been the subject of DMCA notifications. Unfortunately, the EFF et all do not have the resources to mount more challenges then they have already mounted, and several of their challenges have failed. The courts have actually decided that IP protection is more important the freedom of speech in some contexts. The final answer is that this can only be fixed through Congress.

5. This is not a good example to use as a DMCA challenge. The legal community isn't going to touch this with a 10 foot pole. Its not protected speech. Arguing DMCA specifics needs to occur in an environment where the plaintif isn't guilty of other crimes.

RE: Wired News: DMCA: Dow What It Wants to Do