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Arkansas publisher, Humane Society settle suit Wednesday, May 21, 2008 By Aaron Sadler Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - The Arkansas-based publisher of The Gamecock magazine agreed Monday to refuse any advertising that promotes animal fighting, settling its part of a federal lawsuit filed last year by the Humane Society of the United States. The Humane Society sued Marburger Publishing Co. of Hartford in February 2007, accusing the publisher of illegally advertising cockfighting materials. Marburger, online retail giant Amazon.com and the DeQueen-based publisher of The Feathered Warrior magazine were sued in U.S. district court in the District of Columbia. The Humane Society claims Amazon violates federal laws against animal fighting and sale of animal fighting paraphernalia by offering subscription sales for both magazines on its Web site. Amazon and Dowd Publishing, publisher of The Feathered Warrior, remain as defendants in the suit. Marburger was dismissed from the complaint. Marburger pledged not to accept or print advertisements for any fighting animals or any paraphernalia - such as razors or knifes - related to cockfighting. Barry Fisher, Marburger's attorney, said The Gamecock never accepted illegal advertisements anyway. "Long ago, the publication abided by the federal law regarding advertising of cockfighting implements and what have you," Fisher said. "So it wasn't any big deal to get out from under the suit by agreeing to stop advertising what it stopped long ago anyway." Also as part of the settlement, Marburger agreed not to accept subscriptions made on Amazon.com. It is required to ask the company to remove The Gamecock from the Web site for at least a year. The magazine's sales rank No. 3 among hunting and fishing publications on Amazon and No. 209 among all periodicals. Fisher said he did not know The Gamecock's exact circulation, but that the publishing office in Hartford "did not have a computer or fax machine." Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president of litigation for the Humane Society, called it "the oldest and most well known" magazine of its kind in the nation. Patty Smith, a spokeswoman for Amazon, would not comment on the settlement since it did not involve her company. Both the publisher of The Feathered Warrior and her attorney did not return calls seeking comment. Lovvorn said a Supreme Court ruling Monday makes moot Amazon's defense that the retailer has a constitutional right to sell the magazines. The high court in its 7-2 decision ruled that attempts to obtain or requests for child pornography are not constitutionally protected. "In our view, the decision closes the door on the legal issue in this case," Lovvorn said. "Both items have been declared federal contraband, whether it's fighting birds or fighting implements or child pornography, these are unlawful items." Fisher said the Supreme Court decision had no bearing on Marburger's decision to settle. Settlement talks had been in the works for months, he added. "Typically, the chickens that are the subject of the publication are naked, but otherwise it's just bizarre," to link the cases, Fisher said. Marburger and the Humane Society are responsible for their own attorneys fees, according to the settlement. |
