Overview
Judge Crotty issued an amusing decision yesterday that provides a cautionary tale about reading boilerplate forms before singing them, and about finding a trustworthy dentist. The decision begins, “This lawsuit about a toothache and a dentist’s attempt to insulate herself from criticism by patients has turned into a headache.” More specifically, the suit is a declaratory judgment class action brought by a dental patient -- represented by Debevoise & Plimpton and the Public Citizen Litigation Group -- against a dental practice. The dental practice required patients to sign agreements banning them from commenting publicly on their treatment , and assigning to the dental practice a copyright to any such commentary. When the plaintiff complained about his treatment on Yelp and other websites, the practice sent the sites “takedown” notices claiming that it owned the copyright to those comments, and also sent letters to the plaintiff threatening to sue for (among other things) copyright infringement and fraud. The suit seeks (among other things) a declaration that the copyright assignments are void and that this type of commentary is fair use. Judge Crotty denied the dental practice's motion to dismiss.
