I'm not even sure this should be in Activism, yes it has a petition that one has to mail and letter writing suggestions, but what is being done to this chap is just so mean, it could utterly bankrupt him. I hope to gawd he has a good lawyer.

The entire thing can be read at Can.Dimension

"This is what has been called a *SLAPP suit- Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. The concept and acronym were coined in the eighties to describe a tactic used by the rich and powerful, governments or corporations, to bully critics and shut down public discussion by threatening dissidents with legal costs and broad prohibitions against speaking out."

It is to make one weep or run screaming into the night.

When Izzy Asper died, some cynical bastard was heard wondering which of the boys would take over the CanWest empire -- Uday or Qusay ...

WTF? This is an extremely frivolous lawsuit, yet dangerous because of its potential for silencing critics of Big Media, whatever their editorial stance.

:ranting:

ETA - weird, that's the second ranting smilie that won't stick.

CanWest is suing Rafe Mair and the Tyee as well.

http://www.rafeonline.com/showthread.php?t=5689

Dr Dawg has given you a hat-tip, Toe.

Well as usual I'm totally confused. Is this about Trademark law or is about free speech?
And why Briemberg, he didn't produce it, he picked it up and distributed it. I'd like to know who the Jane and John Does are.

Good point. It may be that the suit is ultimately about trademark infringement. Perhaps Canwest is assuming - correctly or incorrectly - that Mordecai Briemberg knows who produced the parody newspaper (John Doe et al) and this legal pressure will cause him to rat out his co-accused in order to be free of the civil suit.

I think that that commenter at Dr Dawg's place is all wet when he talks about defending yourself in the civil courts. He makes it sound as though money is no problem, but that just is not true -- that must be a current right-wing meme. This is a SLAPP suit, meant to hush people up, and those work because most people really can't afford to defend. The right-wingers like to pretend that there are all kinds of evil civil-lib lawyers out there doing pro bono work, but that is not true.

I think that the trademark thingy is what emptywheel calls a bright shiny object, an attempt to deflect attention from the main issue, which is still free speech. It probably is worth warning people, though: if you're going to do a parody, especially a hostile parody, then work some changes on anything that is trademarked. You will notice that the satirical TV shows, eg, when they want to summon up the memory of a particular song or TV theme, will have commissioned a slightly off-kilter version of the original. They do that to avoid precisely this criticism.

Another hat tip for Toe.

Maybe we need a thread just called SUING?

"UPDATE: Thanks to a reader tip, we now know through Steve Janke’s work that Garth Turner is not only a hypocrite but also a massive crook, racking up extra costs via his tour through Conservative ridings for “townhall meetings”"

Garth says "“This statement is published on your site today: “Thanks to a reader tip, we now know through Steve Janke’s work that Garth Turner is not only a hypocrite but a massive crook.”

You are served notice that this statement, accusing me of illegal activity, is false and injurious. Surely, Greg, you understand that there are consequences to making public comments which are without foundation and which can injure the reputation of fellow Canadians.

I expect this to be removed immediately. You know what comes next.”

To get link to original link go to Garths

1. Steve Janke, Boy Detective, is well known for jumping to conclusions in his continuing quest for The Scoop That Will Make Him A Star.

2. To refer to what Matthew at The Politic does as "jumping to conclusions" would be generous. Extremely so.

I dunno.

Seems kinda grey to me - the smart thing would have been to put a T or H into the name (i.e. "Vancouver Stun" or some such) and then if they came after you, it'd be clearly a bullshit case.

A trademark suit is a far cry from attacking free speech.

Professor Mordecai Briemberg has been sued by CanWest for handing out a parody of the Vancouver Sun - In early June, 2007, a parody of The Vancouver Sun newspaper was produced and copies distributed. The parody, a slim four-page edition, coincided with the 40th year of the continuous Israeli occupation of territories it conquered in the 1967 war. The parody focused on the biased media coverage of Israel/Palestine in The Vancouver Sun.

http://seriouslyfreespeech.wordpress.com/

Hmm, didn't Toedancer start a thread about this, a few weeks back?

Here is the earlier thread.

I don't know how to merge threads, but lagatta's links -- which are important -- should be added to that earlier thread. Especially valuable is the link at seriouslyfreespeech to the excerpt from Edge's book that ran in the Tyee -- great source.

Topic merged as requested.

Seek, and ye shall find.

So now I shall demonstrate my powers and lock this thread.

No, no -- I locked that thread, not this one. This is the live thread. Very important new links. Bumpety bump.

ETA: Oh, I see how it works. Gosh. We're not in babble any more, Toto.

Here is the complete story from SeriouslyFreeSpeech

This SLAPP is nothing but Canwest trying to silence a prominent critic of the Israeli government.

I want to point out another SLAPP here, against Écosociété, a small publishing house based in Montréal that has brought out many books on environmental and social issues. Mining company Barrick Gold is suing them for several times more than they are worth, over the forthcoming book "Noir Canada", exposing Canada's role (and in particular the role of Canadian mining companies) in the exploitation of Africa and its people. Le Devoir: Écosociété a besoin d'argent pour se défendre contre Barrick Gold

Spokespersons from the Congolese, Rwandan and Burundian communities here (where as we know, the consequences of this mess have involved mass murder) also say the book must be published. Le livre "NOIR CANADA : PILLAGE, CORRUPTION ET CRIMINALITÉ EN AFRIQUE" doit paraître !

It is becoming more and more obvious that we either (1) have to have some lawyers who will work for free; or (2) have to raise a lot of money. Book publishers can never afford to defend, even when they are right.

There is the phenomenon of "stupid lawyers' letters" to remember. Anyone can get a lawyer to write a threatening or a C&D letter for about $50, I think, and a lot of the time they don't mean much. Publishers often have to be gauging how great the risk is. A real lawsuit is meant to crush, and the only standard is money, not justice or truth.

I was thinking that a change in legislation should be demanded, but perhaps it is a matter of interpretation, as "vexatory" use of the courts is already supposed to be out of bounds, no?

Obviously the Cons aren't going to do that, nor the more right-wing variety of Liberal.

i know several people who have published with Écosociété - it is a small but serious house that brings out quality products. This is a real blow.

Isn't Mulroney on the board of Barrick Gold?

Yep since '93 and He currently sits on the board of directors of multiple corporations, including Barrick Gold, Quebecor Inc. and Archer Daniels Midland. As well as chairman of the board at Quebecor World, he is a director of Barrick Gold Corp. (Toronto), TrizecHahn Corp. (Toronto), Archer Daniels Midland Co. (Decatur, Illinois), Cendant Corp. (New York), AOL Latin America, Inc. (New York) and Cognicase Inc. (Montreal). He is a senior coulsellor to Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst, a global private equity fund in Dallas, chairman of Forbes Global (New York). He is also chairman of various international advisory boards and councils for many international companies, including Barrick Gold, Hicks, Power Corp. (Montreal), Bombardier (Montreal), the China International Trust and Investment Corp. (Beijing), J. P. Morgan Chase and Co. (New York), Violy, Byorum and Partners (New York), VS&A Communications Partners (New York), Independant Newspapers (Dublin) and General Enterprise Management Services Limited (British Virgin Islands).[28]

He remains a partner with the law firm Ogilvy Renault. His experiences as prime minister, such as trying to reconcile the western provinces and Quebec and his close relationship with former President George H.W. Bush, have served him well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Mulr ... _executive

That's a great page -- well done. I will go back to watch the session.

That looks great. Must find somewhere I can view those.

There is a page on the Écosociété ("Noir Canada") SLAPP: http://slapp.ecosociete.org/

It is also in English (click English)

Seriously Free Speech has not updated

Media Lens, a link from SFS is reporting child killings in Palestine as deliberate targets by Israeli Army as revenge linked and media not reporting