Wired: Diebold Loses Key Copyright Case

Diebold knowingly tried to misuse the DMCA act to intimidate students and advocacy groups, a judge ruled, making Diebold pay for the defendants' legal costs. Swarthmore students a year ago published online leaked Diebold documents that appeared to show the company knew its electronic voting machines were severely flawed. The ruling may chill the practice of using law suit threats to try to control the online spread of negative corporate information.

Diebold used the DMCA act, a law intended to stifle piracy, to maintain that the students were violating its copyrights. A couple months later it dropped its suit, but maintained it still had legal grounds to pursue it, leaving the sword dangling over the heads of the students. The Electronic Frontier Foundation took up the case on behalf of the Online Policy Group, and that led to the recent judgment.