Falwell wins Web site dispute

[daveshel]

Link

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- A judge has ruled that a gay activist must stop using a variation of the Rev. Jerry Falwell's name in the address for a Web site critical of the conservative television evangelist.

In a ruling released Tuesday, federal Judge Claude Hilton said the domain name for the site, fallwell.com, was "nearly identical" to the registered trademark "Jerry Falwell" name and was likely to be confusing to Web surfers.

Hilton said the site's operator, Christopher Lamparello, intended to divert people from the Jerry Falwell Ministries' Web site "with the direct intent to tarnish or disparage" Falwell. He also ruled that Lamparello, of New York, sought to make a profit by selling a book on the site via a link to Amazon.com.

Lamparello's site criticizes Falwell's stance against homosexuality and includes a disclaimer that reads, "This Web site is not affiliated with Jerry Falwell Ministries."

I think this is a bad ruling because:

1. The name was spelled differently: Fallwell, not Falwell.

2. The Web site didn't use the Jerry part of the name.

3. There was a disclaimer on the site.

I don't know anything about the procedural posture of the case or if there is any basis for appeal, but I do not believe this ruling follows precedent.

 

[HermDogg]

You can Trademark names now? Like actual people's names? WTF? Call me old-fashioned, but isn't it time we rethink copyright/patent laws?

 

[jackschmittusa]

I agree with daveshel on all 3 points. Maybe Larry Flint should take over the site.

 

[conjur]

I really don't have a problem with it. There is plenty of precedent in case like this but, imo, it does show how overly-sensitive Falwell is.

 

[digitalsm]

Originally posted by: daveshel
Link

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- A judge has ruled that a gay activist must stop using a variation of the Rev. Jerry Falwell's name in the address for a Web site critical of the conservative television evangelist.

In a ruling released Tuesday, federal Judge Claude Hilton said the domain name for the site, fallwell.com, was "nearly identical" to the registered trademark "Jerry Falwell" name and was likely to be confusing to Web surfers.

Hilton said the site's operator, Christopher Lamparello, intended to divert people from the Jerry Falwell Ministries' Web site "with the direct intent to tarnish or disparage" Falwell. He also ruled that Lamparello, of New York, sought to make a profit by selling a book on the site via a link to Amazon.com.

Lamparello's site criticizes Falwell's stance against homosexuality and includes a disclaimer that reads, "This Web site is not affiliated with Jerry Falwell Ministries."

I think this is a bad ruling because:

1. The name was spelled differently: Fallwell, not Falwell.

2. The Web site didn't use the Jerry part of the name.

3. There was a disclaimer on the site.

I don't know anything about the procedural posture of the case or if there is any basis for appeal, but I do not believe this ruling follows precedent.

Uh, they just recently laid the smack down on other people who used mispellings of names/sites. There is plenty of precedent for this ruling.