Judge signals she'll dump Michael Savage suit against pro-Muslim group

[Kadie]

Judge signals she'll dump Michael Savage suit against pro-Muslim group
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, March 7, 2008

(03-07) 15:35 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge said today she's inclined to dismiss a lawsuit by conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage against a Muslim rights group that reprinted Savage's attacks against Islam and called for an advertising boycott.

Savage sued the Council on American-Islamic Relations in December after the organization posted excerpts from an Oct. 29 broadcast in which he called the Quran a "hateful little book ... a document of slavery" and said, "I don't want to hear one more word about Islam. Take your religion and shove it."

His lawsuit accused the group of violating Savage's copyright by posting more than four minutes of excerpts on its Web site without his permission. He also claimed that the group was engaged in racketeering, saying it poses as a civil rights organization but is actually a "mouthpiece of international terror" that helped to fund the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

SNIP...
At a hearing today, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston of San Francisco said she found much of the organization's position to be persuasive and that she had tentatively decided to dismiss the suit.

She added, however, that she would probably allow Savage to refile the suit and fix its defects, which she did not specify.

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