Slashdot Mirror
FatWallet Strikes Back Using DMCA
J. F. Miller writes "A recent Slashdot article reported how FatWallet had been the victim of a DMCA attack by several retail chains. After initially stating that they would not appeal, FatWallet was forced to take legal action when Wal-Mart further subpoenaed the name of a person who posted price information. They are accusing the stores frivolous copyright assertions and demanding payment under Section 512(f) of the DMCA"
I didn't realize that it was possible to post at -1, troll.
I sort of thought you had to be moderated down.
But I agree. with the troll.
Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
maybe wal-mart is _trying_ to kill the DMCA?
>:-D
copyright? you cant copyright a price any more than you can copyright an idea or a word.
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
This legislation has been abused like a village bicycle!
/. is full of stories like that. Needless to say fatwallet is an interesting concept that deservers a fighting chance. I am happy that they decided to show spine. Real spine like that is seriously lacking these days.
;)
Why the heck does it still exist? You know its bad, I know its bad, if you explain it to a regular joe, he will know it is bad.
Whats happening? Anyone who wants someone else on the internet to shut up, uses DMCA.
Is it too broad? Heck yeah! Are lawyers using it whenever they can? Sure,
I really hope that fatwallet has a clued-in lawyer for this. I hope that the judge will be half as clued-in as the above mentioned lawyer. I hope fatwallet wins fat damages.
I mean, Fat damages, damages so fat, next time greedy_company_01 comes to their lawyers crying, the lawyers instead of saying "yes sir, straight away sir, we will use DMCA sir" will say "erm, you have absolutely no case whatsoever, if you want to continue legal action, this will cost you way more than its costing you now"
Lawyers aint cheap and when court orders someone to pay for the damages/legal costs, it aint cheap.
Thus, one of the great ways to defeat DMCA absue in the future is to make it costly for those idiots who pull out DMCA whenever they think they are loosing a few cents to competition/someone smarter.
So, in conclusion of my long-winded post, OG OG fatwallet's lawyer! DIE DMCA, DIE!
It was that little 'Smiley' guy that is always cutting the prices. He was ticked off about being overworked and underpaid.
To be quite honest the absolute absurdity of the DMCA and it's application leave me completely astonished. Now if we could only copyright the usage of written or typed glyphs whereby grouped to represent phonemes. Hmmmm...
These tiny davids like Walmart must be helped to stand up against the Evil Goliaths like FatWallet. As soon as you let people find out about a special, they are going to buy the product, causing massive cost overruns as the stores have to RESTOCK the shelves with new product. The cost of the actual wholesale merchandise is a large part, maybe 25% of the cost that the consumer in the end pays. Many people forget about this and only concentrate on the 5% that goes to salaries, 5% rent, 20% marketing and 45% profit. Somebody has to pay this 25%, and you can be sure it's not going to be FatWallet.
I say retailers should fight back, by introducing a copyright friendly pricing structure. Tickle me Barbies only 48 DoodlyDishus Dollars, Ninety N-N-N-N-Nine cents. Surely that creative effort can be copyrighted.
I'm glad I saw this blurb, otherwise I would have never known there were sales after Thanksgiving.
How many politicians are there on the various Jovian moons? ;-)
Joe Sixpack doesn't give a rat's patoot about the DMCA. If you want to affect "Wal-Mart lovin' Joe Sixpack", you are going to need somehow use the DMCA to cancel a Nascar race. It's the only way to get Joe and the rest of the Sixpack family to care.
Have you noticed that they pick their targets? Slashdot posted the Black Friday list too but so far they haven't been threatened - probably because Wal-Mart is scared of going up against a real corporation like Andover.net. They're picking on people they believe are weak enough to buckle under to the DMCA.
Good for Tim. Let's support him.
Kill Trolls Dead. Here's
D... M-C-A!
It's fun to sue with the
D... M-C-A!
NOTICE NOW EFFECTIVE We'll speaking of coprights i just copirighted the price of $19.99. I will let everyone who has ever bought or sold an item for $19.99 give me a cashiers check for the the amount of $19.99 and you not be sued. Ron popeal i'm hunting for you since everything you sold has been at my copirighted price. seriously this all has to stop These mega corportate companies have to be stopped. My local paper the Detroit free press reported that on friday the 28th walmart$ brought in $288,617,195 in sales for one day. There are only 239,552,771 in the US, thats $.83 a person. Don't feed these fuckers your money go to anywhere else with your money but not walmarts. This is why they can sue people that report prices out of the ad fliers. thanks but I'll be waiting for my checks
SCREW FLANDERS
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
How many politicians are there on the various Jovian moons?
Not enough.
El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)
The funny thing is, I had a good friend in college who went to Wal-Mart to make his Christmas list. Living on a college student budget, and eating ramen, he took a notepad to jot down the prices of what he wanted to buy.
Two blue-vested thugs came and politely told him that he could not take prices back to his store. He laughed, and politely explained he was just making his Christmas list. Then they escorted him to the door.
I would like to contribute to a defense fund of sorts for FatWallet
You would have been able to, but aparently somebody copyrighted the excact amount of money to send to the fund, so no nobody can tell you how much to send.