An Activist Law Firm

Monsarrat v. Encyclopedia Dramatica

Copyright, Free Speech
Marc Randazza
MARC J. RANDAZZA

Attorney

Jay Wolman
JAY M. WOLMAN

Attorney

Jonathan Monsarrat sued Encyclopedia Dramatica (a website resembling Wikipedia), claiming that the platform committed copyright infringement by including quotes from some email chains and a picture of the businessman dressed as a beaver in their articles. Furthermore, Encyclopedia Dramatica, as Monserrat suggests, edited his photo and added the Pedobear image to it. He sought $750,000 in damages.

The whole thing started years before, when Monsarrat created an online dating platform where he appears to have gamed the system so all the women matched with him.  They found out about each other and started posting their chats with him online to compare notes.  

 Pedobear is a well-known cartoon mascot used to mock or flag internet users expressing their sexual interest in children, so the plaintiff decided to file a separate motion to demand the Court to issue an Order to strike exhibits on the public court docket that feature the meme. He claims the meme promotes child pornography and thus cannot be protected by the First Amendment. In his motion, Monsarrat states that the use of the image in association with his name negatively affected him and argues that “Pedobear” popularizes child pornography. However, his last statement is contrary to the idea behind the meme.

While the case was factually frivolous, the Court ultimately decided to punt on the substance and dismissed it because it was brought outside the statute of limitations.

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