Groklaw

Groklaw

Screenshot of Groklaw as of June 18, 2008
Type of site	Law
Available in	English
Owner	Pamela Jones
Created by	Pamela Jones
Slogan(s)	When you want to know more...
Website	groklaw.net
Alexa rank	688,422 (April 2014[update])
Commercial	No
Launched	May 16, 2003
Current status	Suspended

Groklaw was a website that covered legal news of interest to the free and open source software community. Started as a law blog on May 16, 2003 by paralegal Pamela Jones ("PJ"), it covered issues such as the SCO-Linux lawsuits, the EU anti-trust case against Microsoft, and the standardization of Office Open XML.

Jones described Groklaw as ..."a place where lawyers and geeks could explain things to each other and work together, so they'd understand each other's work better."

Its name derives from "grok", roughly meaning "to understand completely", which had previously entered geek slang.

Other topics covered included software patents, DMCA, the actions of the RIAA against alleged illegal file sharers, and actions against free and open software such as Android and Linux. Almost every article also attracted an "Off Topic" thread, where a diverse range of topics was discussed.

According to a 2003 interview with Jones, the blog was started to cover legal news and to explain it to the tech community.

The first article was entitled The Grokster Decision – Ode To Thomas Jefferson. It was about the effect of P2P on the music industry, and the recent (at that time) court decision in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc., et al., Plaintiffs, vs. Grokster, Ltd., et al., Defendants, by Judge Steven Wilson in favor of the defendants. It also covered the previous Napster decision, and why it was different, causing Napster to be shut down. The article included a quote from Thomas Jefferson and references to David Boies, who was Napster's attorney.