Astrolabe dismisses suit.
A few minutes ago (1553 US/Eastern), Astrolabe filed a "Plaintiff's Notice of voluntary Dismissal With Prejudice & Withosut [sic] Cost." The document should be available at http://www.archive.org/download/gov.uscourts.mad.139342/ in a few minutes. Until then, you can find a copy at my mirror, though the document itself is uninteresting: http://web.mit.edu/jhawk/tmp/tz/ The operative text: " PLAINTIFF'S NOTICE OF VOLUNTARY DISMISSAL " WITH PREJUDICE & WITHOSUT COST " " Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1), please take " notice that Plaintiff ASTROLABE, INC., pursuant to Federal Rule of " Civil Procedure 41(a)(1), hereby voluntarily dismisses all claims in " this action with prejudice, and without costs, as to Defendants ARTHUR " DAVID OLSEN and PAUL EGGERT. " " In connection with this NOTICE, the Plaintiff states that the " Defendants have neither answered Plaintiff's Complaint, nor filed a " motion for summary judgment. Accordingly, this matter may be " dismissed with prejudice and without an Order of the Court. --jhawk@mit.edu John Hawkinson United States District Court District of Massachusetts Notice of Electronic Filing The following transaction was entered by Molloy, Julie on 2/22/2012 at 3:53 PM EST and filed on 2/22/2012 Case Name: Astrolabe, Inc. v. Olson et al Case Number: 1:11-cv-11725-GAO Filer: Astrolabe, Inc. Document Number: 5 Docket Text: NOTICE of Voluntary Dismissal by Astrolabe, Inc. (Molloy, Julie)
The EFF issued the below press release this afternoon with statements from Astrolabe. --jhawk@mit.edu John Hawkinson Subject: EFF Wins Protection for Time Zone Database X-RSS-ID: https://www.eff.org/rss/69783 at https://www.eff.org X-RSS-URL: https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-wins-protection-time-zone-database Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:41:37 -0000 From: "Deeplinks: rebecca" Copyright Lawsuit Threatened Essential Tool for Engineers Around the World San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is pleased to announce that a copyright lawsuit threatening an important database of time zone information has been dismissed. The astrology software company that filed the lawsuit, Astrolabe, has also apologized and agreed to a 'covenant not to sue' going forward, which will help protect the database from future baseless legal actions and disruptions. Software engineers around the world depend on the time zone database to make sure that time-stamps for email and other files work correctly no matter where you are. However, last September, Astrolabe filed a lawsuit against Arthur David Olson and Paul Eggert -- the researchers who coordinated the database's development for decades -- because the database includes information from an atlas in which Astrolabe claimed to own copyright. But facts -- like what time the sun rises -- are not copyrightable. EFF, along with co-counsel Adam Kessel and Olivia Nguyen at the Boston office of Fish & Richardson P.C, promptly signed on to defend Olson and Eggert and protect this essential tool. In January, EFF advised Astrolabe that Olson and Eggert would move for sanctions if Astrolabe did not withdraw its complaint. Today's dismissal followed. In a statement, Astrolabe said, "Astrolabe's lawsuit against Mr. Olson and Mr. Eggert was based on a flawed understanding of the law. We now recognize that historical facts are no one's property and, accordingly, are withdrawing our Complaint. We deeply regret the disruption that our lawsuit caused for the volunteers who maintain the TZ database, and for Internet users." "It's a fundamental principle of copyright law that facts are not copyrightable, and Astrolabe should have known that," said EFF Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry. "While the lawsuit should never have been filed, we're pleased that the legal threat to an important resource has been eliminated. "We are grateful that EFF and its co-counsel at Fish & Richardson were able to step in and assist us, so that we could help ensure the TZ database would continue to be available," said Eggert and Olson. For more on this case: [https://www.eff.org/cases/astrolabe-v-olson][1] Contacts: Corynne McSherry Intellectual Property Director Electronic Frontier Foundation corynne@eff.org Mitch Stoltz Staff Attorney Electronic Frontier Foundation mitch@eff.org [1]: https://www.eff.org/cases/astrolabe-v-olson URL: https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-wins-protection-time-zone-database
Any chance that Dr Eggert and Arthur Olson will come back now that this nonsense is over with? -----Original Message----- From: John Hawkinson Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 7:37 PM To: tz@iana.org Subject: Re: [tz] Astrolabe dismisses suit. The EFF issued the below press release this afternoon with statements from Astrolabe. --jhawk@mit.edu John Hawkinson Subject: EFF Wins Protection for Time Zone Database X-RSS-ID: https://www.eff.org/rss/69783 at https://www.eff.org X-RSS-URL: https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-wins-protection-time-zone-database Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:41:37 -0000 From: "Deeplinks: rebecca" Copyright Lawsuit Threatened Essential Tool for Engineers Around the World San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is pleased to announce that a copyright lawsuit threatening an important database of time zone information has been dismissed. The astrology software company that filed the lawsuit, Astrolabe, has also apologized and agreed to a 'covenant not to sue' going forward, which will help protect the database from future baseless legal actions and disruptions. Software engineers around the world depend on the time zone database to make sure that time-stamps for email and other files work correctly no matter where you are. However, last September, Astrolabe filed a lawsuit against Arthur David Olson and Paul Eggert -- the researchers who coordinated the database's development for decades -- because the database includes information from an atlas in which Astrolabe claimed to own copyright. But facts -- like what time the sun rises -- are not copyrightable. EFF, along with co-counsel Adam Kessel and Olivia Nguyen at the Boston office of Fish & Richardson P.C, promptly signed on to defend Olson and Eggert and protect this essential tool. In January, EFF advised Astrolabe that Olson and Eggert would move for sanctions if Astrolabe did not withdraw its complaint. Today's dismissal followed. In a statement, Astrolabe said, "Astrolabe's lawsuit against Mr. Olson and Mr. Eggert was based on a flawed understanding of the law. We now recognize that historical facts are no one's property and, accordingly, are withdrawing our Complaint. We deeply regret the disruption that our lawsuit caused for the volunteers who maintain the TZ database, and for Internet users." "It's a fundamental principle of copyright law that facts are not copyrightable, and Astrolabe should have known that," said EFF Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry. "While the lawsuit should never have been filed, we're pleased that the legal threat to an important resource has been eliminated. "We are grateful that EFF and its co-counsel at Fish & Richardson were able to step in and assist us, so that we could help ensure the TZ database would continue to be available," said Eggert and Olson. For more on this case: [https://www.eff.org/cases/astrolabe-v-olson][1] Contacts: Corynne McSherry Intellectual Property Director Electronic Frontier Foundation corynne@eff.org Mitch Stoltz Staff Attorney Electronic Frontier Foundation mitch@eff.org [1]: https://www.eff.org/cases/astrolabe-v-olson URL: https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-wins-protection-time-zone-database
[ Sorry to send so much minutia email. I think this is the last nail in the coffin. ] And finally, at 8:25am US/Eastern [*], the Court formally closed/terminated the case. There is no corresponding PDF file. --jhawk@mit.edu John Hawkinson p.s.: Am I supposed to say at 0825 America/New_York? grump :) United States District Court District of Massachusetts Notice of Electronic Filing The following transaction was entered on 2/23/2012 at 8:25 AM EST and filed on 2/23/2012 Case Name: Astrolabe, Inc. v. Olson et al Case Number: 1:11-cv-11725-GAO Filer: WARNING: CASE CLOSED on 02/23/2012 Document Number: No document attached Docket Text: Civil Case Terminated. (Lyness, Paul) 1:11-cv-11725-GAO Notice has been electronically mailed to: Julie C. Molloy jcourtmolloy@gmail.com 1:11-cv-11725-GAO Notice will not be electronically mailed to:
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