| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
FatWallet users frequently posted the sale prices of major retailers before they were even released in the retailers' advertisements, which got the site involved in a major legal dispute in 2002. Several retailers, including Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and Staples, all served FatWallet with "take-down" notices pursuant to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, claiming that their sale prices were copyrighted and must be removed from its site. Wal-Mart also served FatWallet with a subpoena to force it to reveal the identity of the users that had posted Wal-Mart's prices, but quickly dropped this demand.
Though FatWallet initially complied with the take-down notices due to the fear of liability, within two weeks it took the offensive, reposting the prices and arguing that the prices were uncopyrightable facts rather than expression. FatWallet filed a lawsuit against three of the retailers in federal court, seeking damages for their knowing assertion of invalid copyright claims and a declaratory judgment that the take-down provisions of the DMCA were unconstitutional. The case, FatWallet, Inc. v. Best Buy Enterprise Services, Inc., No. 03-C-50508, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6153 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 12, 2004), was dismissed, however. The court ruled that FatWallet lacked standing to sue for any harm done to its users for having their postings temporarily removed, and FatWallet did not assert any injury that the court found cognizeable.