Crook v. 10 Zen Monkeys [1]

On September 18, 2006, Lou Cabron, a contributor to the webzine, "10 Zen Monkeys," wrote an article about Michael Crook, the operator of "craigslist-perverts.org," a website that publicized responses to fake personal advertisements posted on Craigslist. In the article, Cabron posted a still photographic image of Crook from a newscast on Fox News. Cabron's article, called "In the Company of Jerkoffs," was critical of Crook's controversial tactics.

The next day, Crook sent a DMCA take-down notice to the website's internet service provider (ISP), claiming that 10 Zen Monkey's use of the photographic image violated his copyright in it. In response to the notice, the ISP made 10 Zen Monkeys take down the image.

10 Zen Monkeys then changed its ISP and re-posted the image. Crook sent another take-down notification to the new ISP on September 22, 2006. On October 30, 2006, Jeff Diehl, the publisher of 10 Zen Monkeys, sent a counter-notification to the ISP pursuant to notice-and-takedown procedures found at 17 U.S.C. § 512(g) [2],requesting that the image be re-posted. On November 15, 2006, the ISP re-posted the image because Crook had not filed a lawsuit "seeking a court order to restrain the subscriber from engaging in infringing activity relating to the material on the service provider’s system or network," as required by 17 U.S.C. [2] § 512(g)(2)(C) [2].

Represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Diehl then filed a lawsuit against Crook in federal court in California, claiming that Crook violated Section 512(f) [2] of the DMCA, which imposes liability for making knowing, material misrepresentations in a DMCA takedown notice. Diehl argued that Crook knowingly misrepresented that he was the owner of the copyrighted image because the copyright clearly belonged to Fox News. Diehl also contended that Crook knowingly misrepresented that posting the image infringed his copyright because the posting of the image was a fair use. Diehl also claimed that Crook's actions constituted tortious interference with contract and unfair business practices under California law.

In March 2007, Diehl and Crook agreed to a settlement. As part of the settlement, Crook agreed to withdraw his DMCA notices, take a copyright law course, and record a video apology.