...is a good offense. That's the message of Fred von Lohmann's latest column at Law.com, which urges ISPs and online publishers to take advantage of the recent ruling in OPG v. Diebold to level the playing field with copyright holders who send abusive takedown demands:

[By] bringing litigation in selected cases, ISPs and Internet publishers can begin to build precedents that may preemptively deter copyright owners from sending blunderbuss takedown notices in the first place. Counsel for copyright owners, on the other hand, will have to examine potential fair use arguments more closely in light of the Diebold ruling, especially if they have been informed by an ISP or publisher that the material may not be infringing.

Derek Slater, Joe Gratz, and Michael Madison of Madisonian Theory each have thoughts to share on the Lexmark ruling. Ernie, Michael, and Seth Finkelstein have clearly given a great deal of thought to the BnetD decision. Perhaps we'll see some brainstorming about how the Lexmark ruling could be applied in Bnetd v. Blizzard?