FedEx im Krieg mit einem Fanblogger

Was hat der Fan Jose Avilla verbrochen? Eigentlich nix, nur daß er seine komplette Wohnung – aus einer temporären finanziellen Notlage heraus – mit FedEx Kartonage ausgestattet hat… und sieht wirklich cool aus… und eine Webseite dazu kreiert hat:

FedEx Furniture is furniture put together by empty FedEx Boxes, and held together by fedex packaging supplies. All of the furniture seen here is 100% functional. The couch is standing/sleeping approved, I sleep on the bed every night, I eat at the dining table, and I work at the desk almost 20 hours a day.

Und was hat FedEx verbrochen? Unglaublich… Jose dazu:

With encouragement from several friends, I put up a website with some pictures of my furniture, showing that it was „€œOK to be ghetto“€? and how you can solve a problem creatively when you“€™re in a bind. Apparently FedEx did not like the message, as I was sent a cease and desist letter during the first business day after the site was started. It was strange how the letter did not specifically state what laws we violated, so I was suspicious and called around. It seemed like I was being bullied around, without any real legal standing. Jennifer Granick found out about what was going on, and offered to help me.

Das ist ein FedEx-Schreiben wegen Markenverletzung vom 03.08.05:

(click me, .pdf)

FedEx hat ihn – Jose – wegen Verletzung des Digital Millennium Copyright Act (!!!!!) verklagt und seine Seite temporär vom Netz nehmen lassen. Mittlerweile konnte sich Jose seiner Haut dank profunder Unterstützung seitens des „The Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society“ erwehren:

Over two weeks ago, FedEx improperly used the DMCA notice and take-down provisions to get the website at www.fedexfurniture.com taken offline. The company claimed trademark infringement and conversion, neither of which allow it to take advantage of the powerful remedy provided under the DMCA.

Klaro, die Story hat sich nun im Netz verbreitet, bis hin zu Wired und Slashdot. Kein Wunder, wie bohnenblond kann eigentlich eine Firma noch sein?

Wie abstrus das alles ist, zeigt der letzte Absatz auf Wired.com auf, man beachte die Argumentation von FedEx:

FedEx also claims Avila violated fedex.com’s terms of use, which state that „fedex.com is provided solely for the use of current and potential FedEx customers to interact with FedEx and may not be used by any other person or entity, or for any other purpose.“€? … „Frankly, it’s the most interesting of the legal claims,“ Gelman said. „But in this case I see nothing in the terms of service that would prevent (making furniture from FedEx boxes and displaying them on a website).“ FedEx also said in the Aug. 3 letter that Avila clearly intended to operate a business from his website because he used the .com domain suffix, the „commercial level domain,“ rather than .net. „There is absolutely no rule, regulation or law that says that,“ Gelman replied.

via WhatsNextBlog.com

Update:
Erfahre gerade bei Connected Marketing, daß DHL Jose anbietet, doch auf gelb umzusteigen :-)) Wurde von Steve Rubel bereits aufgegriffen, so daß davon ausgehen kann, daß der Fall die Blogosphere beschäftigen wird nächste Zeit 🙂