Proprietary, private information does not mean it is copyrightable information. You can't copyright facts, only creative expressions. Just like the phone company cannot copyright the listing of names and numbers in their phonebooks, a company can not copyright its prices past, present or future.


They are certainly well within their rights to ask DVDtalk to censor speedy. Hell, it's within MY rights to ASK DVDtalk to censor speedy. But it is also well wtihin DVDtalk's rights to say, "NO."

Don't expect DVDtalk to stand up to CC though - CC has more money to blow on lawyers than DVDtalk does, and even though barratry is illegal, that's exactly what CC is threatening here. Plus, DVDtalk is getting to the point where it benefits from the "kindness" of studios - if the retailers complain to their suppliers enough, DVDtalk will start to get disfavorable treatment from the very companies it depends on.

PS - all you people proclaiming how you will flock to Target and BestBuy - just give it a few more weeks, their lawyers will make an appearance too.

I knew I shouldn't have posted that pic of Lohan. :(

Didn't FW tell Wal-mart to fuck off a couple of Black Fridays ago when they tried the same crap ?

PRICES are not copyrighted material, and Geoff should stand up for the forum.

Oh and one more thing -

FUCK YOU, CIRCUIT CITY.

This is bullshit. He isn't posting images of the ads and he has signed no agreements to keep the ads confidential. You can't tell me that I am not allowed to write about something I read. I'm sick and tired of seeing fair use trampled because people are scared of lawyers and their bullshit. There is nothing wrong with him typing out of list of things he read in an ad just because they want it kept secret. They can go after him if they want and fire him if he is an employee, but they can not sue me because I read their add early and talked about it on a forum.

Now that Geoff has backed down you can expect many more lawyers to make appearances.

I don't see why ads for any of the stores are allowed to be posted in advance since the same thing isn't allowed when it comes to Black Friday ads.

People also better delete their pictures of their dvd collections. Just like speedy doesn't have the copyright to the ads he got info from, we don't have copyrights to take pictures of our dvds...

OMG M I RIGHT~!

Why is Black Friday blocked either? As long as no pictures of the ads are posted there is nothing wrong with typing out a list of things you happened to read in the ad. Again, CC needs to find out how the ads are leaking out of their stores and stop it, but they can not sue a website for allowing members in a forum to talk about things they read.

Another thing. It wasn't illegal to talk about the Harry Potter book when it came out early. Isn't that the EXACT same situation?

How far in advance would constitute a violation? There was (probably still is) a FREE neighborhood newspaper in my area that would include a Best Buy ad with it beginning every Wednesday afternoon. The ad would be for the upcoming week. It would be available to anyone picking up that paper. A few months ago I discovered another FREE paper that included a Target ad for the following week. The earliest edition of Sunday papers where most of these ads are distributed begin a full 24 hours early, on Saturday mornings.

Bs!!

Yes. Exactly the same. You can go after someone selling the book early because you have a contract with them to prevent it, but you can not punish the people who got it early for talking about it and giving away secrets. Circuit City needs to stop printing ads early or get over it, but they definitely need to stop trampling on first amendment rights.

There is no copyright or DMCA rule that prevents someone from telling you what was in an ad they read. None. That is all Speedy is doing on the forum. He isn't posting pictures of the ad or even typing out the entire ad in detail.

Can we have a little clarification here? Is Speedy (or anyone else) prohibited from posted their prices in advance or at all?

Personally, I can live with them not being posted in advance. Knowing what the price will be in a week or two does nothing for me. But if I could still find out on a Saturday (since a lot of "Sunday" papers come out on Saturday afternoons) or Sunday what that week's prices will be, that would be enough to satisfy me. Two days is enough for me to make purchasing plans.

If they're not allowed to be posted at all, then that's a different story. I have 3 Best Buys and 3 or 4 Targets closer than the nearest Circuit City anyway and could easily stop shopping there.

hahahaha... wow.

i ONLY shop at CC when i see something good in Speedy's post.

i like to prepare at least two weeks ahead of time so i can FREAKING BUDGET for my purchases!

the single biggest reason i walk into Circuit City and allow them to scan my credit card for merchandise is b/c i knew from Speedy that it was the best choice for me that particular Sunday.

now i'm just going to avoid them and go with the 2nd best deal to whatever they have.

lawyers are insane. they just seriously don't understand the intertubes, or how they can benefit from them. i get their argument, i just think it's laughably anachronistic and basically retarded. no offense to people who don't like the use of that word, but in this case - it fits.

If it's legitimately in an available paper, it's "open source".
I don't understand the "copyright" argument.
I do understand the "trade secret" argument. What promotional price I'm selling Product X for in three weeks is "private" and a trade secret. Someone leaking that is either a. likely violating his company policy or B. "stealing" information he's not "supposed" to know.
Again, IANAL, there may or may not be legal precedent to this, I don't know if "trade secret" is legally protectable...but "Hey, stop releasing our proprietary information that isn't supposed to be leaked out yet" is a perfectly valid request.

Wal-mart backed down on similar threats:
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-976296.html

It would be a waste of time to type up the Sunday ads on Sunday, when you can just look at them in the paper, or on their website.

I agree with a lot of the sentiments in here. CC is really a shoddy business, and I hardly ever set foot in their store. Nothing is ever organized, and everything just looks disorganized in there. The only time I'll go in there is if there's a really killer deal I hear about from Speedy.

The formal complaint needs to be posted. Please don't bend over and spread your cheeks for lawyers like this.

I appreciate all your feedback on this issue.

Unfortunately since there's <b>actual legal action</b> here on behalf of Circuit City <b>it goes beyond a cease and desist</b> and thus an immediate need to act.

My attorney has advised me not to comment further on the details of a pending legal matter.

Rest assured we're working on it.

I appreciate your patience in this matter.

Geoff

Some people like me has to make plans in advance cause I live over an hour away from CC. All I have to same is a big FU to CC:bmonkey:. They can take their ads and stick them where the sun don't shine. CC ads ought to be :banned: from here period then lets see how much their sales drop. :suicide:

Unbelieveable. I understand that you can't comment, since your lawyer has advised you not to. I just can't believe that Circuit City is truly threatening legal action against anyone for something that is not theirs to copyright. Prices are not something that someone can copyright. On top of that, the ads are printed to allow people to know the prices in advance. What difference does it make to Circuit City if we know the prices 2 days early, or 2 weeks early? Trust me, Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, and every other retailer out there already knows what prices they are going to set their product at, as well as what their competitors prices are going to be, weeks in advance.

Freaking idiots! I really hope that DVDTalk.com has a crackpot lawyer, and will give a major thrashing to those corporate lawyers! For once the little guy needs to stand against the cowardly monster!

Can you at least tell us if we can post prices on the day the ad starts? It would be just the same as walking into the store and telling people prices there. Or are we just never to speak of CC prices again, no matter what?

for those upset here is the pisspoor email contact us page

http://www.circuitcity.com/cs_customer_email.jsp?c=1

I notice the stickied post about no CC ads is now missing from the DVD Bargains forum.

Thanks. Sent them a "suggestion." I didn't go crazy but told them I nor my friends would not buy anything from them in the future until they got off DVDTalk's back.

I know one of these may mean nothing to them but if they get flooded with complaints they would have to at least pay attention.

As many have said already...Speedy's posts were the only reason I stepped foot into CC anymore. That will now cease. F'em. They have always sucked BB's ass anyway.

You can even post direct links to their web pages since they're probably up by then.
I can understand the chilling effect that CC actions has had on the principal(s) of DVDTalk but I know that FW after dealing back and forth between opposing attornies eventually got to the position that hand keyed entries Do Not violate any copyright laws and allow such advance posts. I hope that gkleinman et. al. pursue their similar rights because they should prevail. Good Luck!