FedEx furniture is the artistic creation of computer programmer and

creative consumer A creative consumer is defined as any “individual or group who adapt, modify, or transform a proprietary offering” in a business journal article by Berthon, et al. While traditional consumers simply use and consume products and services, creat ...

Jose Avila, III. In June 2005, Avila created a website, Fedexfurniture.com, to display photographs of a couch, bed, dining room table, and desk that he had constructed out of cartons obtained from overnight shipping giant

FedEx Corporation FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fed ...

(FedEx). FedEx attorneys used the takedown provisions of the

Digital Millennium Copyright Act The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or s ...

(DMCA) to force Avila's

ISP An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

to take the site offline, accusing Avila of infringing on FedEx's

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

s and

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

s, breaching his

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

with FedEx by using the cartons for purposes other than shipping, and potentially misleading consumers into believing that FedEx approved or endorsed Avila's actions. Among attorneys and activist organizations concerned with the exercise of

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

rights on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, FedEx's actions raised questions about the

constitutionality Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...

of using the DMCA to censor unwanted speech. The Fedexfurniture.com website is down as of July 8th, 2017.

The story

In 2005, Avila moved to Tempe, Arizona with nothing more than clothes and work essentials. He was still stuck in a lease on his California apartment, and could barely afford his new apartment in Arizona. After a bit of frustration over not having furniture, Avila remembered that a former roommate had solved a similar problem by constructing furniture using FedEx cartons. Using hundreds of FedEx boxes and materials that he "already had lying around" for shipping various items, Avila constructed every piece of furniture in his apartment. Avila's designs were sturdy and attractive. Friends urged Avila to put pictures of the furniture on a Web site. According to Avila, he did so in order to show that trying financial circumstances need not lead to despair; one can respond creatively, even artistically, by using "found" materials. The site's message was "It's OK to be ghetto". The site subsequently attracted widespread attention, both from Web surfers and the press. Because the site was getting so much traffic, Avila placed a PayPal donation link on the page and asked for help to pay for the bandwidth charges. He also announced a plan to sell Fedexfurniture.com T-shirts, although Avila says that no T-shirts were ever sold. On June 27, 2005, FedEx attorneys wrote to Avila's

. Citing the takedown provisions of the

(DMCA), they demanded that the ISP remove Avila's materials from the Web. They justified their request on two grounds: *Infringement of FedEx's

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

(specifically,

s and

s.) *Violation of FedEx's terms of use for packaging supplies. In order to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA, Avila's ISP complied with the request and removed Avila's materials from the Web. Had the ISP not done so, it could have been held liable for contributory infringement (aiding and abetting the infringer) if Avila's materials were subsequently found to be infringing in a court of law. FedEx's actions concerned Internet free speech activist organizations, such as Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society, which are concerned about the use of the DMCA's takedown provisions to censor unwanted speech. According to these organizations, the DMCA's purpose is to prevent Internet copyright infringement; it was never Congress's intent that the DMCA's takedown provisions should be used when the real issue is

trademark infringement Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the licence). Infringement may o ...

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party ...

. A Stanford attorney,

Jennifer Granick Jennifer Stisa Granick (born 1969) is an American attorney and educator. Senator Ron Wyden has called Granick an "NBA all-star of surveillance law." She is well known for her work with intellectual property law, free speech, privacy law, and othe ...

, assisted Avila on a

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

basis. In her letter to FedEx, she disputed the use of the DMCA to remove Avila's site from the Web; she argued that the company's claim of

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

had no merit; therefore, FedEx should not have used the DMCA to silence Avila's speech. The company's underlying motivations, she argued, were to protect its

and ability to place restrictions on public use of its cartons. Avila restored his site briefly. The dispute attracted widespread press attention, and Avila was frequently interviewed to tell his side of the story. In response to Granick's letter, FedEx attorneys reiterated their claims. Subsequently, Avila removed his site from the Web, citing technical difficulties. By January 2006, Avila's site had returned, however, by June 30, 2006 the site had again disappeared. This was caused by a server crash, and as of July 27, 2006 it was back online, but as of August 16, 2007 the site is gone. It popped up again in October 2007, but is currently down (July 8, 2017).

References

The Fedexfurniture Story

FedEx takedown notice
Also se
FedEx to Via Internet, June 27, 2005
# Marjorie Heins and Tricia Beckels (2005)
"Will Fair Use Survive? Free Expression in the Age of Copyright Control"
New York, NY: Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law.
Stanford Center for Internet & Society to FedEx, August 9, 2005

#353 F.3d 792 ( 9th Circuit, 2003).

External links

fedexfurniture.com
@ web.archive.org
Slashdot thread about Fedexfurniture.com

A discussion of the pros and cons of Avila's actions.

Contains interviews with both FedEx and Avila.
Furniture Causes FedEx Fits
Wired News story on the site and controversy, including interviews with Avila and his lawyer. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fedex Furniture Art websites 2005 in law Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown incidents

Furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...