[EL] Cybersquatting/Issa-Wertheimer

[David Mason]

The case is ancient, but see Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc.
v. Bucci, 42 U.S.P.Q.2d 1930 (S.D.N.Y. 1997) holding against a site with a
misleading name.

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 3:21 PM, Ben Sheffner <ben.sheffner at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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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