Internet Jokesters Impersonate the US Chamber of Commerce Website – Is it Copyright Infringement?
It was a great news story - In late 2009, a group calling themselves the "Yes Men" played a joke involving the US Chamber of Commerce. They put up a phony site along with a phony press release, supposedly quoting the chamber's President, Thomas Donahue, in a speech on global warming. Several national news outlets, including CNBC and Fox News, picked up the story and reported on it as real, even interrupting broadcasting to report on the "breaking" story. The US Chamber of Commerce was not amused by the joke.
The Chamber issued a DMCA takedown notice to the Yes Men's hosting provider, saying that the website clearly infringes on their copyright by directly copying design aspects of their official government site. The Yes Men countered by saying that if the ISP takes down the site, the Chamber will be liable for misrepresentation of infringement. They cited a US Supreme Court opinion, which stated that "parodies must often use substantial portions of an original work to make their point." But legal precedent also implies that parodies can be considered infringing if they are too close to the mark.
The "real" Chamber of Commerce, recognizing the value of its name and reputation, aggressively pursued its legal rights in court, U.S. Chamber Files Civil Complaint to Protect Trademark and Intellectual Property from Unlawful Use, and created a web page, U.S. Chamber of Commerce "The Facts," specifically responding to "false accusations and misstatements" of their policy. This dual approach addressed not only the Chamber's legal defense of its intellectual property rights, but also attempted to minimize the damage to their public image.
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Find out more about this story at Yes, but is it funny? US Chamber issues takedown notice for Yes Men parody.
