3TAPS, INC.'S ANSWER AND COUNTERCLAIM Case No. CV-12 ...

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728Defendant 3taps, Inc. (“3taps”) answers the allegations made by Plaintiff craigslist, Inc., aDelaware corporation, (“craigslist”) in its Complaint as follows:INTRODUCTION1. 3taps admits that craigslist provides what is commonly known as “classified”advertising, but denies the insinuation that this form of advertising is in any way “unique” tocraigslist, the derivative insinuation that “classified” advertising is a concept originated bycraigslist, and the related insinuation that craigslist is entitled in any way to protect as original anycomponent of its site that can be characterized as a successor to an advertising methodology—the“classified” ad—whose words, phrasings, and categorical design have been in use since at least the18th century. 3taps further denies the insinuation that craigslist operates itself as a free publicservice, since craigslist is a for-profit enterprise whose value as a going concern is estimated by aprincipal stakeholder as worth “several billion dollars.” (source: craigslist, Inc., v. eBay, Inc., etal., Superior Court for the County of San Francisco, case number CGC-08-475276, filed May 13,2008. craigslist is a private company and does not publish its financial information.) To the extentthat there is anything genuinely “unique” about craigslist’s free ads, it is because they are theworks of users who place their own ads, write their own copy, and own or control the goods orservices that they—not craigslist—advertise. 3taps denies that these works of others can beasserted by craigslist as its own.2. 3taps denies the allegations in paragraph 2. Alleging that 3taps is acting pursuant toits own “commercial benefit” incorrectly insinuates that 3taps operates itself in derogation ofconsumer well-being, website utility, and accessible web content. 3taps, through its ownproprietary technology, attacked and placed in issue by this lawsuit, facilitates access to userauthoredcontent that resides on sites such as craigslist, enabling the creation of search productsthat more efficiently search and display information. Just as Google, Bing, Ask, or any othergeneral search engine facilitate efficient searches, 3taps enables user-authored ads on craigslist (orany similar public advertising sites) to be efficiently searched. 3taps’ technology provides apreviously unrealized public benefit, by enhancing the accessibility of the classified ads ofpotential sellers by potential buyers. 3taps denies that craigslist has any standing, whether under3TAPS’ ANSWER AND COUNTERCLAIM1CASE NO.: 12-CV-3816-CRB