Berch 4 Idaho screenshot
Idaho Rep. Steve Berch posted this newsletter back in November. In February, he was hit with a cease-and-desist letter from Rep. Heather Scott's husband, Andrew Scott.
Idaho state Rep. Steve Berch — one of the few Democratic legislators in Idaho — was defiant.
"I will not let attacks on my honesty and integrity go unchallenged," the Boise-based legislator wrote in a November newsletter.
His electoral opponent, Steve Keyser, had repeatedly shared a Facebook image citing the "Center for Legislative Accountability" scores to accuse Berch of topping the rankings of "Idaho's most radical progressive, liberal legislators."
But Berch scoffed at such rankings.
"I welcome being ranked on the opposite end of a scale that exalts ultra-extremists as the paragons of legislative virtue," he wrote, posting photos of a number of legislators who had scored 95 to 100 percent on an "extreme 'conservative' ranking."
That included a very small photo of his colleague, Republican Rep. Heather Scott, holding the Confederate flag at a Timber Days parade back in 2015.
Last month, Scott's husband issued a copyright threat against the Inlander, myself, and local audio reporter Heath Druzin, threatening to sue for damages up to $150,000 per violation if the photo wasn't removed from our stories within 24 hours.
Now, we've learned that Berch was hit with a similar threat as well.
"You can confirm that I received similar communication," Berch said in a very brief statement over the phone Wednesday morning. "A lawyer will be responding soon to that communication."
At this point, however, the Confederate flag photo remains posted in the newsletter on Berch's website.
In some cases, publishers have taken down the photo. A 2021 Daily Kos community post calling Heather Scott the "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day," was once illustrated with the photo, but it has since "been deleted from the Daily Kos by its owner," according to the image that replaced it.
The Sandpoint Reader, which wrote multiple stories using that photo, also removed it after we brought the letter we'd received to their attention. But publisher Ben Olson says the publication didn't get a legal threat. It was proactive. Like many publications, the Sandpoint Reader has been burned by copyright before.
"Last year, a copyright lawyer contacted me and said a photo I'd used to illustrate one of our columnist's articles was actually a Reuters copyrighted image," he wrote in an email. "I had thought it was fair use, but it turns out I was wrong. They worked with me and I only got dinged $500, but ever since then I've been extra careful to avoid any copyright issues."
In at least one case, Scott's husband targeted a regular Twitter user. Kevin Wilson has frequently posted the photo this year while replying to Scott, often pairing it with a jibe accusing her of being a "White Nationalist." (Scott argues that she was merely showing her support for the First Amendment by holding the flag, and, in other contexts, has said that a White nationalist is 'nothing more than a Caucasian who [is] for the Constitution and making America great again" and is distinct from a White supremacist.")
In February, Wilson received a similar copyright threat as Berch, the Inlander and Druzin.
"Though I am not a journalist, on February 14, 2023, I received by priority mail a cease-and-desist letter from Stonefly Studios, threatening to sue me for copyright infringement if I did not remove the photo of Rep. Heather Scott from my Twitter timeline and refrain from posting it to Twitter or other social media," Wilson writes by email. "I gave the letter all the consideration it deserved. I ignored it."
For his part, audio reporter Druzin says he hasn't heard from Scott or her husband since getting the letter. But he did hear from a lot of people who wanted to help.
"I got an outpouring of support and an astonishing number of offers for free legal services, which was very heartwarming," Druzin says. "Hopefully not something I need to use, but it was nice to see."
Additionally, a number of Twitter users reposted the photo themselves, making it that much harder for copyright lawsuits to scrub the photo from the Internet.
If he’s not careful, that image will soon be all over the Internet.https://t.co/goMme0I6dC pic.twitter.com/zeztKKauu6
— Your Brand New Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (@KevinSWilson2) March 19, 2023
