(stupidsenators.com)
BOOM! Taste my nightstick!
It seems that there are those people that continue to sneer at Sarah Palin, portraying her as stupid, and worse. Each time this has occurred Palin has proved them wrong. Their lack of success has not deterred them from continuing to try. This incident ends no differently.
As you probably know Mrs. Palin has written a new book called, “America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag“. It’s scheduled to be released this week. Gawker, a far left muckraker publication, and no stranger to Palin bashing, published leaked excerpts from her book. Mrs. Palin objected to the leaks. She tweeted this: “The publishing world is LEAKING out-of-context excerpts of my book w/out my permission? Isn’t that illegal?”
Gawker’s Maureen O’Connor responded to Mrs. Palin, snidely lecturing her about copyright law.
“Did you catch the excerpt we posted yesterday from Sarah Palin’s new book? Sarah did. She tweets with rage: “The publishing world is LEAKING out-of-context excerpts of my book w/out my permission? Isn’t that illegal?”
[Sarah: If you’re reading this—and if you are, welcome!—you may want to take a moment to familiarize yourself with the law. Try starting here or here. Or skip the totally boring reading and call one of your lawyers. They’ll walk you through it.]
Unfortunately for Gawker, they don’t seem to have read their own links. Or perhaps they simply didn’t comprehend them as explained to them, no doubt, by their attorneys. Harper Collins, Palin’s publisher, promptly asked for and received an injunction against Gawker Media, asking that the site be banned from what it termed “further copyright infringement.” The injunction prohibits Gawker from “continuing to distribute, publish or otherwise transmit pages from the book” pending a hearing on Nov. 30.
The Other McCain has a copy of the court order. He adds:
The judge found probable cause that Gawker violated copyright and ordered Gawker to pull the leaked pages and appear in court to defend themselves and explain why this wasn’t a violation of copyright and why the leaked pages shouldn’t be permanently removed. This temporary restraining order prevents Gawker from potentially further violating copyright by keeping the pages up until the court date. Date set for Nov. 30th. This is a huge victory for HarperCollins’ lawyers.
Wow, that Palin is some dummy, isn’t she?
Professor Jacobson at the blog Legal Insurrection is urging Palin to take this to a whole new level.
But please don’t stop there. Your TRO is the equivalent of a routine metal detector screening. You found the box-cutter, and confiscated it. Good so far, but not enough.
You need to have your lawyers give the people at Gawker a full nude-body scan and junk fondling.
Uncover the networks, Sarah. For all of our benefit and amusement.
It’s called discovery. In a litigation your lawyers are entitled to e-mails, and all Gawker’s internal documents regarding not only this theft, but you. Because you will want to prove that their intent was to harm you and damage you, so everything they ever have written off-the-record, everyone with whom they ever have communicated about you, every strategy they have employed to take you down, now is fair game.
And your lawyers also get to take depositions under oath of the people at Gawker, and to subpoena for testimony others who may have relevant evidence as to the issue in the case. The Palingate people would be a good start.
Gawker has given you an opening large enough to drive a truck through. Please go there, if not for yourself, then for all the conservative women who have been targeted by Gawker and the other Gawkers out there.
And money will not be an issue. If your publisher will not foot the bill (do they want your next book, or not?), you could raise millions overnight for the legal fees.
Oh Yes! Please!
By the way, MacRanger at Macsmind is reporting that under US copyright law each page could cost Gawker up to $500,000 in penalties. (Gawker excerpted from 14 pages.)
A spokesperson for Harper Collins told me that “Substantial Damages will be sought”. “We intend to put them out of the business of printing protected material ever again.”
In the words of the inimitable Bill Engvall, “Gawker, Here’s Your Sign.”
