05-11-2011, 01:06 PM
Nice to see that Koch Industries had their corporate ass handed to them by a judge in Utah. Couldn't stifle free speech by throwing money and lawyers at it this time.
The case has its origin in a brief action carried out by members of Youth For Climate Truth (YFCT), a group concerned about climate change. The action targeted Koch Industries, a billion dollar company that has publicly challenged the science behind climate change theories.
YFCT issued a press release, purportedly from Koch, in which the company promised to stop funding organizations that deny climate change. The release was posted for a few hours on a website (www.koch-inc.com) that partially imitated Koch Industries' own website.
It (Koch) sued YFCT for trademark infringement, cybersquatting, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (for allegedly not complying with the terms of service on the real Koch website) and assorted state claims, then issued subpoenas seeking the identities of the YFCT members. YFCT moved to quash the subpoenas and dismiss the case.
Judge Dale Kimball granted the motion and threw the whole thing out.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/05/ut...-dismisses