Savage Suit Against Muslim Group Dismissed

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http://cbs5.com/local/.Savage.lawsuit.2.780510.html

Jul 25, 2008 8:01 pm US/Pacific

Savage Suit Against Muslim Group Dismissed

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ¯ A federal judge in San Francisco on Friday

dismissed a lawsuit filed by conservative radio talk show host

Savage against a Muslim civil rights group.

Savage claimed the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic

Relations violated his copyright when it posted on its Web site a

four-minute excerpt of anti-Islamic comments by Savage. The council

accompanied the excerpt with a critique of Savage's words.

U.S. District Judge Illston said the posting of the audio clip

was protected by the First Amendment free-speech doctrine of fair use

because it was used for purposes of criticism and commentary.

Illston wrote that the group, known as CAIR, " used the audio excerpts

to comment on and rebut derogatory statements regarding their

organization and their religious affiliations. "

Savage is host of The Savage Nation, a nationally syndicated show

based in San Francisco.

The clip from his Oct. 29, 2007, show included comments that " They

need deportation. ... You can take (CAIR) and throw them out of my

country " and that Muslims were " screaming for the blood of Christians

or Jews or anyone they hate. "

Illston dismissed the copyright infringement claim and said Savage

could not try to refile it.

She also dismissed a second claim in which Savage accused the group

of racketeering in support of terrorism. But she gave Savage until

Aug. 15 to try to amend that claim by alleging specific financial

harm to his business.

Council spokesperson Ahmed Rehab said, " Savage's suit was laughable

from the start and the accusations it made against CAIR utterly

baseless. "

Rehab said, " We will continue to stand up to Savage's bigotry and

will not be bogged down by his knack for retaliatory fluff lawsuits. "

Savage's lawyer, Horowitz, said, " We are prepared to file a

very detailed and well-documented new complaint " on the racketeering

claim.

" It is a very carefully thought-out decision and I respect the

court's ruling even if it is not what I wished for, " Horowitz said of

the ruling.

Savage has recently come under fire from parents of autistic children

for alleging on his July 16 show that 99 percent of autism cases are

actually cases of misbehaving children whose parents don't discipline

them.

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contributed to this report.)