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Tuesday, August 31, 1999
Federal judge to issue ruling about Ford-related Web site
Associated Press
DETROIT - A federal judge will rule by Sept. 7 on whether a self-proclaimed Ford enthusiast violated company trade secrets and copyright law when he posted internal Ford Motor Co. documents on his Web site.
Robert Lane is under a temporary restraining order issued last Wednesday ordering him to remove the documents and any material copyrighted by Ford.
U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds said Monday she will decide this week whether the Dearborn resident can repost any of the 112 Ford documents he claims to have received from anonymous sources.
Among the documents is an internal memo detailing problems with the 1999 Mustang SVT Cobra. Ford announced recently that all 5,300 models sold had been recalled to fix exhaust problems that cut as much as 50 horsepower from the 320 horsepower the car is supposed to have.
Lane and his attorney claim Lane is a journalist, and the limits placed on his site, www.BlueOvalNews.com, are an illegal prior restraint.
"I don't think Ford wants to discuss the First Amendment, because if they discuss the First Amendment, they'll lose," attorney Mark Pickrell said.
But Ford claims Lane, a 32-year-old nursing student, has "inflicted irreparable harm" by posting blueprints for new engines, schedules for new vehicles and product planning memos. It wants Lane permanently barred from putting the documents online and also may seek damages against him.
"Lane has used his Web site . . . and the celebrity status it has gained in a guerrilla campaign of threats, innuendoes, dissembling and illegal actions," Ford said in a court filing.
The site was shut down Friday after Ford sent a copy of the temporary restraining order to the Missouri-based company that puts the site on the Web.
Ryan Elledge, an official with CommuniTech.Net Inc., said the site was taken off the Internet to comply with the order. Elledge also said BlueOvalNews was also violating its agreement with CommuniTech, which prohibits copyright infringement on Web sites that it hosts.
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