Teh One Who Knocks
05-05-2015, 11:00 AM
BY LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
http://i.imgur.com/99KTbS5.jpg
A national sorority has sued a former member claiming she leaked “sacred” secrets on a Seattle-based web comic.
Attorneys for Phi Sigma Sigma claim the woman shared “secret information” about the sorority’s rituals. In publicizing the sorority’s secret handshake, robe colors and other practices, they contend, the former member violated her contract with the collegiate sorority.
The woman isn’t identified in the lawsuit, which was filed late last month in King County Superior Court in Seattle. The Seattle-hosted website isn’t named either, though an online search shows comments were posted to the Penny Arcade web comic site about Phi Sigma Sigma at the time in question.
In that November 2011 post, a user posting under the pseudonym “stepscloser” purported to describe the sorority’s secret name – Philanthropic Social Society – as well as its secret handshake and knock. The user went on to describe meetings at the sorority and the oath spoken by its members.
Now, attorneys representing the sorority are seeking a court order restraining the former member – “Jane Doe” in the lawsuit – from disclosing confidential information about Phi Sigma Sigma. They’re also seeking financial compensation for harm they claim has been done to the sorority.
“The defendant knew that the information that she was posting had not been publicly disclosed and would damage” the sorority, attorney Karin Jones said in the civil lawsuit. “The defendant admitted in her posting that the confidential information she disclosed is never written down or recorded and that that the organization and its members consider the information ‘sacred.’”
Attorneys for Phi Sigma Sigma referred requests for comment to a sorority spokeswoman, who did not offer comment Monday.
According to the lawsuit, the offending former member posted the comments in November 2011. The sorority discovered them in late 2012; by then they’d been reposted at several other sites.
The comments described in the lawsuit match those still published on the Penny Arcade site. The comments are limited to descriptions of rituals at the sorority – they’re devoid of any lurid details or scandalous allegations.
The sorority, which has 108 chapters, none of which are in Washington, sent cease and desist letters to the sites after the post was discovered. All except the original host – presumably Penny Arcade – removed the postings.
Founded in Seattle, Penny Arcade is an online comic strip that claims to draw about 3.5 million readers. It’s perhaps best known around Seattle for PAX convention that has been held annually in the area for more than a decade.
Penny Arcade illustrator Mike Krahulik responded to a Phi Sigma Sigma letter in a Nov. 19, 2012, post on the comic’s website.
Writing as his Penny Arcade alter ego “Gabe,” Krahulik said an attorney for the sorority claimed the site was violating Phi Sigma Sigma’s intellectual property rights by allowing the former member to describe the sorority’s inner workings.
He said he wouldn’t be doing so – the post remains up on the site – and suggested the sorority “could have just changed their handshake and gotten a new knock.” Krahulik went on to recount a conversation he had on the matter with “Tycho,” Penny Arcade writer Jerry Holkins’ second self.
“Tycho asked me why I didn’t just remove it for them,” “Gabe” wrote for the Penny Arcade audience. “I said I didn’t like being told to do something by a lawyer. He asked if I’d have done it had they simply asked nicely.
“No probably not.”
Phi Sigma Sigma does not appear to have served the lawsuit on the unidentified woman. It’s not yet clear whether attorneys for the sorority will try to subpoena records from Penny Arcade that might identify her.
No specific money demand has been made in the lawsuit, which is slated for trial in May 2016.
http://i.imgur.com/99KTbS5.jpg
A national sorority has sued a former member claiming she leaked “sacred” secrets on a Seattle-based web comic.
Attorneys for Phi Sigma Sigma claim the woman shared “secret information” about the sorority’s rituals. In publicizing the sorority’s secret handshake, robe colors and other practices, they contend, the former member violated her contract with the collegiate sorority.
The woman isn’t identified in the lawsuit, which was filed late last month in King County Superior Court in Seattle. The Seattle-hosted website isn’t named either, though an online search shows comments were posted to the Penny Arcade web comic site about Phi Sigma Sigma at the time in question.
In that November 2011 post, a user posting under the pseudonym “stepscloser” purported to describe the sorority’s secret name – Philanthropic Social Society – as well as its secret handshake and knock. The user went on to describe meetings at the sorority and the oath spoken by its members.
Now, attorneys representing the sorority are seeking a court order restraining the former member – “Jane Doe” in the lawsuit – from disclosing confidential information about Phi Sigma Sigma. They’re also seeking financial compensation for harm they claim has been done to the sorority.
“The defendant knew that the information that she was posting had not been publicly disclosed and would damage” the sorority, attorney Karin Jones said in the civil lawsuit. “The defendant admitted in her posting that the confidential information she disclosed is never written down or recorded and that that the organization and its members consider the information ‘sacred.’”
Attorneys for Phi Sigma Sigma referred requests for comment to a sorority spokeswoman, who did not offer comment Monday.
According to the lawsuit, the offending former member posted the comments in November 2011. The sorority discovered them in late 2012; by then they’d been reposted at several other sites.
The comments described in the lawsuit match those still published on the Penny Arcade site. The comments are limited to descriptions of rituals at the sorority – they’re devoid of any lurid details or scandalous allegations.
The sorority, which has 108 chapters, none of which are in Washington, sent cease and desist letters to the sites after the post was discovered. All except the original host – presumably Penny Arcade – removed the postings.
Founded in Seattle, Penny Arcade is an online comic strip that claims to draw about 3.5 million readers. It’s perhaps best known around Seattle for PAX convention that has been held annually in the area for more than a decade.
Penny Arcade illustrator Mike Krahulik responded to a Phi Sigma Sigma letter in a Nov. 19, 2012, post on the comic’s website.
Writing as his Penny Arcade alter ego “Gabe,” Krahulik said an attorney for the sorority claimed the site was violating Phi Sigma Sigma’s intellectual property rights by allowing the former member to describe the sorority’s inner workings.
He said he wouldn’t be doing so – the post remains up on the site – and suggested the sorority “could have just changed their handshake and gotten a new knock.” Krahulik went on to recount a conversation he had on the matter with “Tycho,” Penny Arcade writer Jerry Holkins’ second self.
“Tycho asked me why I didn’t just remove it for them,” “Gabe” wrote for the Penny Arcade audience. “I said I didn’t like being told to do something by a lawyer. He asked if I’d have done it had they simply asked nicely.
“No probably not.”
Phi Sigma Sigma does not appear to have served the lawsuit on the unidentified woman. It’s not yet clear whether attorneys for the sorority will try to subpoena records from Penny Arcade that might identify her.
No specific money demand has been made in the lawsuit, which is slated for trial in May 2016.