[EL] Cybersquatting/Issa-Wertheimer

[Ben Sheffner]

Here's a link to the Koch Industries case to which Allison refers:
http://pubcit.typepad.com/files/kochindustries.pdf

On a quick glance, the facts seem very similar to the fake Corwin site. In
the Koch case, the defendants created a fake press release and web site
purportedly announcing that Koch Industries had reversed its position on
climate change. The court dismissed Koch's claims for trademark/unfair
competition (no commercial use), violation of
the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (no "bad faith intent to
profit"), and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (no violation for allegedly
accessing Koch's public web site to gain info for use in the fake site). It
does not appear that the plaintiffs brought a copyright claim. My guess is
that the court would have rejected it on fair use grounds in any event;
there's a strong current of affording vigorous protection to political
speech that runs through the opinion.

Additional info here:
http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2011/05/federal-court-dismisses-koch-brothers-trademark-suit-over-climate-change-prank.html
<http://pubcit.typepad.com/files/kochindustries.pdf>

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 11:43 AM, Allison Hayward Gmail <
allisonhayward at gmail.com> wrote:

>  Similar arguments failed in a case described here.<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54612.html>
>
>
>
> *From:* law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:
> law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] *On Behalf Of *Rick Hasen
> *Sent:* Thursday, May 12, 2011 2:38 PM
> *To:* law-election at uci.edu
> *Subject:* [EL] Cybersquatting/Issa-Wertheimer
>
>
> Cybersquatting vs. Political Opposition/Parody
>
> I'm not sure if this is a question for Matt Sanderson<http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/elj.2008.0013?journalCode=elj>,
> Eugene Volokh <http://volokh.com/> or Ben Sheffner<http://copyrightsandcampaigns.blogspot.com/>
> .
>
> Check out what has got to be the funniest (and perhaps nastiest) parody
> site for a congressional campaign that I've seen, www.janecorwin.org(e.g., "Together we can make delicious soup from the bones of the poor. Sign
> up now to be served by Jane Corwin."). This site appears to be more than
> just an attempt to grab traffic from voters guessing at the name of Corwin's
> real site <http://janecorwin.com/>; it mimics the look and feel of that
> site and appears to me to be a political critique of Corwin's policies.
>
> So how do the rules on cybersquatting and copyright protection etc.
> interact with the First Amendment in this context? Would there be a First
> Amendment defense to a lawsuit brought by Corwin to move this to a
> differently-named site (or to shut down the portions that appear to steal
> some of the Corwin website's look and feel)?
>
> Posted by Rick Hasen at 11:37 AM<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/019475.html>
>  Issa Gags Wertheimer
>
> See here<http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/160763-democrats-slam-issa-for-rejecting-oversight-witness>
> .
>
> Posted by Rick Hasen at 10:42 AM<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/019474.html>
>
> --
> Rick Hasen
> Visiting Professor
> UC Irvine School of Law
> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
> 949.824.3072 - office
> 949.824.0495 - fax
> rhasen at law.uci.edu
> http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
>
> William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law
> Loyola Law School
> http://electionlawblog.org
>
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