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Craigslist Sues Ad automation Vendors
Craigslist, Inc., owners of the Internet’s most popular classified ad service, has continued its campaign against those providing software to automate ad postings to its sites by filing four more lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The suits generally allege violation or breach of copyright; trade-mark; the Craigslist terms of use; the Digital Millennium Copyright Act; the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act; and the California Penal Code. The thrust of the claim is that by devising means of circumventing each new anti-automation countermeasure which Craigslist implements, and by selling these circumvention tools to ad-spammers, Craigslist is harmed. However, many of the ten claims for relief in the Clbotpro.com et al. suit, for example, go much further, raising unconventional claims that breaches of the Craigslist terms of use are criminal or fraudulent, or that the circumvention tools or their development are derivative works of Craigslist’s copyright works in its access systems.
There is some irony and potential downside to Craigslist bringing these claims, as the Software & Information Industry Association uses Craigslist as an example of an Internet tool used by software pirates to facilitate sales, and a broad interpretation of copyright law in this context could ultimately backfire.
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For additional information, including an example claim, visit: http://www.businessinsider.com/craigslist-sues-spammers-2009-10