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 February 5, 2013 in 

When Tim Cushing at TechDirt wrote about Teri Buhl’s “unpublishable tweets” and her attempts to bully Gideon with lawsuit threats, then me with veiled threats of a libel lawsuit, Buhl left a comment:

Screen Shot 2013 02 05 at 5 24 45 PM

(“Jurno”?)

Then she asked Jim Romenesko to post her response to the TechDirt article:

I can say silly things some times and I’d like to apologized for my knee jerk reaction to Gideon.

Of course I can’t sue him/her because I don’t even know the person’s real name.

You see, threatening Gideon is not wrong because there is no basis for a lawsuit, nor is it wrong because threatening a lawsuit is a thuggish thing to do; threatening Gideon is wrong because she doesn’t know who he is. (If she knew his real name, she could threaten him, sue him, maybe even publish his private journal.)

Buhl implies that the tweets I republished were from a protected account, claiming, “My tweets were protected for a long time” but not admitting that the tweets between her and Gideon were public.

Screen Shot 2013 02 05 at 5 38 34 PM

In the same screed, having realized that her libel theory will go nowhere, Buhl advances a copyright theory:

Asking fellow journos (or bloggers) not to publish my tweets is about a copyright issue for me.

* * * * *

As far as Mark Bennett (the lawyer blogger) – I would like to sue him and see how copyright law relating to tweets and photos in tweets would be tested. If can [sic] afford to do it I will.

Buhl had also vehemently (“separately, she asked Tim to provide my phone number, and she called our corporate line multiple times this morning”) sought to comment with Techdirt, and then sent TechDirt the same statement she sent Romenesko. As well as the Romenesko statement,

[s]he also provided an “off the record” statement, saying that the background photo on her Twitter profile is covered by copyright, and demanded that we take down the image of her Twitter profile because “as a tech blogger I hoping you will respect copyright laws.”

So here, for those keeping score at home, is a summary of Teri Buhl’s theories to date:

  1. That republishing tweets designated “not for publication” can be the basis for a lawsuit.
  2. That she hadn’t written the tweets I republished (“Mark did you fact check my twitter feed to make sure I tweeted what you published?”).
  3. That I libeled her.
  4. That retweeting “protected” tweets can be the basis for a lawsuit (“I think the question is if tweets are protected are they public”).
  5. That republishing her tweets violates her copyright.
  6. That republishing her background photo violates her copyright.
[Update 2/9/13: Buhl has theories #7 and #8 (in comments here): that (7) I didn’t use Twitter’s embedding to republish the tweets; and (8) while the tweets were not protected when they were screen-captured, they were protected when they were republished:
Screen Shot 2013 02 09 at 3 52 23 PM
Mindful of Rule 9, I will not press the issue further if Buhl stops now and claims that she has succeeded in starting a discussion on the copyrightability of Tweets.]

Changing theories is always a good indication that the person threatening a lawsuit has no good reason to sue: if you have a reason to file suit, you know it.

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5 Comments

  1. Ron in Houston February 5, 2013 at 9:47 pm - Reply

    Mark,

    Remember Dad’s advice in the previous post. When you simply look at the totality of the circumstances you’re left with no other word than “crazy.” Take a few steps back, evaluate things then run like hell away.

    This guy will certainly not think less of you.

  2. The Immortal He February 5, 2013 at 10:10 pm - Reply

    King Mark,

    Teri Buhl will surely appreciate the video – if she can figure out how to play it – even if she is not capable of understanding its point.

  3. Ric Moore February 6, 2013 at 4:20 am - Reply

    Wow Mark! You really stirred the pot on this one! HA! I’ve followed the links and then found MORE links that led to other links on this story. It’s 5AM and I think I’ve found them all by now. By the time I get up, there will be even more links.

    The part that really grabs me is how she claims she really really likes you, …for a law suit that is. I bet David Letterman has you on his show, after you clean her clock in court. Some people just have a wake up call coming, and this is clearly one of them.

    What I find disturbing is this photo of her in court.
    https://newcanaan.patch.com/articles/disturbing-story-emerges-in-new-canaan-journalist-case

    Myself, I don’t think court is a place to be crazy and look crazy. In my experience, judges don’t like stupid either, but you might get a break if you at least appear sorry. :) Ric

  4. Maggie Bilski February 6, 2013 at 8:38 am - Reply

    Bunker holes are probably being dug in her back yard at this very moment! (I know, I know. Too soon.)

  5. Turk February 7, 2013 at 12:57 pm - Reply

    I think she’s crushing on you, as my kids would say…

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