FatWallet & Black Friday
Part of FatWallet.com's growth can be attributed to a traffic spike in November, 2002, triggered by media attention paid to founder Tim Storm and FatWallet's forums as Storm set precedent for online consumers' rights in a face-off against retail giant Wal-Mart. After a forums member posted product pricing information scheduled to appear in Wal-Mart Black Friday advertisements, Wal-Mart sought the identity of the member, invoking sections of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Storm believed the demand for a poster's identity to be misuse of the DMCA and successfully refused Wal-Mart's request.
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FatWallet Strikes Back
Less than two weeks after retailers threatened deal website FatWallet.com with DMCA suits, FatWallet is on the counterattack. Several retailers ordered FatWallet and other websites to take down Nov 29th sale information from their forums claiming the information was protected under the DMCA. Wal-Mart also filed a subpoena ordering FatWallet to identify a poster who submitted sale information to the website. Today FatWallet posted in their forums they were challenging "abusive DMCA claims" and affirming they protect their users' privacy rights...
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http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2002/12/862.ars
December 2, 2002, Arstechnica.com
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Walmart Backs away from DMCA Claim
Wal-Mart said on Thursday that it would not pursue copyright claims against a bargain-shopping site that posted details about "Black Friday" sales.
In a closely watched move, the mega-retailer invoked the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) last month to force FatWallet.com to delete a list of products and prices scheduled to appear in Black Friday advertisements. Wal-Mart then sent a special DMCA subpoena to FatWallet asking for the identity of the person who posted the details on the site. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving each year when retailers, legend has it, go "in the black" and start to make money.
But after a law clinic at the University of California at Berkeley stepped in and said it would represent FatWallet and fight the subpoena, Wal-Mart backed down.
"We're satisfied that our copyrights were protected in this case," said Tom Williams, a spokesman for Wal-Mart. "Accordingly, we withdrew the subpoena."
Wal-Mart's subpoena invoked an obscure part of the DMCA that allows a copyright holder to ask for "identification of an alleged infringer" without filing a lawsuit first...
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http://news.cnet.com/Wal-Mart-backs-away-from-DMCA-claim/2100-1023_3-976296.html
December 5, 2002, CNET News
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Fatwallet invokes DMCA to sue Best Buy
A REPORT ON Ars Technica says that Best Buy received a writ from FatWallet for alleged infringement of the DMCA.
FatWallet is a company which alerts consumers to sales changes before they happen.
Best Buy and other chains of shops had attempted to persuade FatWallet to remove filings on its forums relating to price moves in advance of Thanksgiving.
And it took a last step by sending FatWallet a subpoena asking it to identify the individal who filed the information. But the subpoena wasn't properly served...
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http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1028421/fatwallet-invokes-dmca-sue-best-buy
November 30, 2003, The Inquirer.net
