Denison v. Larkin, 2014 WL3953637 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 13, 2014)
This case arises out of an Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (“IARDC”) disciplinary proceeding. Plaintiff, a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois, is suing the IARDC for using portions of her copyrighted Blog as evidence against her in an attorney disciplinary proceeding. The IARDC alleged that Plaintiff made false statements about judges and other lawyers on her Blog, which addresses a guardianship proceeding.
“Plaintiff brought this suit alleging that the IARDC infringed on her copyright by using “15 paragraphs of text from the Mary Sykes Blog” in its disciplinary complaint which the IARDC posted on its website. (R.1, Compl. at ¶ 10.) In addition, the ARDC copied “hundreds of pages from her blog” and maintained them in her case file. (Id. ¶ 13.) Plaintiff alleges the IARDC copied over 1,000 pages of the Blog and “then incorporated [it] into even further exhibits.” (Id. ¶¶ 21, 23.) Plaintiff claims the amount copied was “far in excess of what the IARDC needed for its investigation and trial…
Additionally, Plaintiff alleges that Nextpoint, which produces webpage software data, also infringed on her copyright by allowing the IARDC to use Nextpoint’s software to capture her Blog.”
Defendants sought dismissal of the alleged copyright infringement claims.
According to the judge,
“Copying copyrighted material is prima facie evidence of copyright infringement. 17 U.S.C. §501. If the copying is for a fair use of the material, however, it does not constitute infringement”.
A motion to dismiss was granted considering the following:
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Purpose/character of the use: “Copying portions of the Blog for evidence does not supersede the Blog’s purpose as a forum to discuss purported courtroom corruption. Moreover, it is uncontested that Defendants used the reproduction of these copyrighted materials in a judicial proceeding.”
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Nature of work: “the Blog is closer to a factual work or published speech than it is to a short story or unpublished memoir.”
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Amount/substantiality of portion taken: “Copying the entire Blog serves the important ‘societal interest in having evidence before the factfinder…As such, this factor weighs in favor of a finding of fair use.’”
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Market effect: “The use of the Blog as evidence in a state disciplinary proceeding does not create any adverse impact on any perceived market for the Blog”. As such, also this factor weighted in favor of Defendants’ fair use.
The full text can be found at: http://business.cch…
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