Jones Day Settles Linking Suit with Blockshopper

In what the ABA Journal characterizes as a "Fig Leaf" settlement, Jones Day and Blockshopper have settled the lawsuit that Jones Day brought when Blockshopper had the temerity to link to the bios of two Jones Day attorneys when it reported on (public) real estate transactions involving the two lawyers.

I blogged about this case back in the fall.

In the settlement, Blockshopper agrees that while it will not use any "Embedded Links" to the Jones Day website in the future, it may use "Deep Links" to the site. Blockshopper must also make some sort of statement indicating that the reference individual is employed by Jones Day, and that more information about the person can be obtained at http://www.jonesday.com/, adding the appropriate internal reference to the web address.

So what would formerly have read as follows:

Embedded (bad): Steve Brogan, Jones Day's managing partner, recruited me when I was a law student at Notre Dame.

Now must read thus:

Deep (good): Steve Brogan, who is employed by Jones Day as its managing partner, recruited me when I was a law student at Notre Dame. More information about Steve Brogan can be obtained at http://www.jonesday.com/sjbrogan/.

Hugh Whiting signed the settlement on behalf of Jones Day.

I have to admit that I hadn't heard of the term "fig leaf" settlement; I looked it up, but all I could find were other blogs and newsletters that referenced the Jones Day/Blockshopper case. Wikipedia, in addition to teaching me about a turn-of-the-last-century bodybuilder named Eugen Sandow who used to pose nude save for the protective covering of a fig leaf, provided some information that I think pretty much covers (pun intended) the settlement:

"The expression fig leaf has a perjorative metaphorical sense meaning a cover for any thing or behaviour that might be considered shameful, with the implication that the cover is only a token gesture and the truth is obvious to all who choose to see it."