Constitutional Law

Federal judge orders Gawker to pull Palin book pages

By By The Associated Press

NEW YORK ? A federal judge on Nov. 20 ordered Gawker Media to pull leaked pages of Sarah Palin's forthcoming book America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag from its blog.

The injunction prohibits Gawker from "continuing to distribute, publish or otherwise transmit pages from the book" pending a hearing on Nov. 30.

HarperCollins Publishers had sued Gawker after it published images on Nov. 17 from Palin's book before its scheduled release tomorrow.

In response, Palin tweeted, "Isn't that illegal?"

Gawker defended its action in a Nov. 18 post titled ?Sarah Palin is Mad at Us for Leaking Pages From Her Book? and addressed a message to "Sarah" telling her to read pages about fair use under copyright law. "Or skip the totally boring reading and call one of your lawyers," the post said. "They'll walk you through it."

HarperCollins filed a legal complaint Nov. 19 in federal court asking that the site be barred from what it called "further copyright infringement."

Gawker Media LLC couldn't be reached for comment in time for this story, but as of Nov. 20, Gawker had removed the pages from its site.

The blog was not the first site to publish excerpts from the book, which has been billed as a tribute to American values, but it refused to take them down after receiving a letter demanding that it do so, the lawsuit said. The Associated Press bought a copy of the book ahead of its Nov. 23 release date.

In the book, Palin praises Simon Cowell and the movies ?Juno,? ?Knocked Up? and ?40-Year-Old Virgin.? She accuses President Barack Obama of reflecting ?a stark lack of faith in the American people.?

Palin's first book, the memoir Going Rogue, has sold more than 2 million copies.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on November 21, 2010 (boomark / email).