Politech archive in this case:
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=taubman
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Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 16:42:17 -0500
From: "Paul Levy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: More in the litigation against the critic of abusive litigation by
Taubman Company
For Immediate Release: Contact: Paul Alan Levy (202) 588-1000
March 11, 2002 Shannon Little (202) 588-7742
Court Cannot Prevent Texan from Criticizing
Shopping Mall Developer
Critical Web Site Can Stay Online While Court Considers Appeals
WASHINGTON, D.C. � The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth
Circuit today suspended an order issued last fall by a district court that
had shut down a Web site while appeals on the First Amendment status of the
site were considered.
Computer consultant Henry Mishkoff has been involved in a dispute with the
nationwide shopping mall developer Taubman Company, which is building a
mall in Plano, Texas, near his Dallas home. Mishkoff originally built a
"fan site" praising the mall, but after Taubman claimed his site violated
its trademark and demanded it be taken down, he developed a site
criticizing the company.
Last fall, the Michigan district court ordered Mishkoff to remove both of
his sites from the Web, taking a dangerous step toward restricting
non-commercial speech on the Internet.
"I was stunned and dismayed when the District Court ordered me to remove
my 'complaint' site from the Web," Mishkoff said. "That decision seemed to
fly in the face of everything I've learned about our First Amendment rights
since my high-school civics class. Although this experience has left me
feeling a little uneasy about the process, Public Citizen's help and the
Appeals Court decision have gone a long way toward restoring my faith in
the American legal system."
Following the district court's injunctions, Mishkoff took both sites down,
although he has created a third site explaining the case in detail,
http://www.giffordkrassgrohsprinklesucks.com/. Mishkoff is in the process
of restoring the Taubmansucks site to the Web; however, it may take one or
two days for the site to be fully available to the public.
Mishkoff was represented by Paul Alan Levy of the Public Citizen
Litigation Group. To learn more about this and other free speech cases, go
to http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/IntFreeSpch/index.cfm.
###
Public Citizen is a nonprofit public interest organization based in
Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.citizen.org
,,,
Paul Alan Levy
Public Citizen Litigation Group
1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 588-1000
http://www.citizen.org/litigation/litigation.html
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