[EL] Cybersquatting/Issa-Wertheimer

Fri May 13 07:40:01 PDT 2011

What strikes me about the website is that it is very agressive. I
wouldn't expect a party or candidate to put up a site hinting that an
opposing candidate might be a bit of a Nazi (as the site does).
Considering that a fair amount of money went into the website, who is
behind it?

Another thought: the creators might welcome a lawsuit to take it down
to get attention for the website....the so-called "Streisand effect":
http://www.thestreisandeffect.com/

Doug

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 6:22 PM, Matthew Sanderson
<matthew.t.sanderson at gmail.com> wrote:
> ICANN's Uniform Dispute Resolution Process (UDRP) will likely be a better
> forum for Corwin, if she wants to wrest the domain away from the squatter.
>
> UDRP panels have been much more willing than courts to give credence to the
> complainant-friendly idea that Internet-user confusion far outweighs any
> nominal speech expressed through the domain name itself. And in another
> strain of UDRP decisions, the use of the site for parody/criticism was not
> deemed relevant. Instead, the UDRP panels ruled that the domain name itself
> must include some parodic/critical phrase to constitute "fair use" (i.e.
> www.MattSandersonSucks.com could not be wrested from a squatter, but
> www.MattSanderson.com could, even if the website content says "Matt
> Sanderson sucks" on the landing page). One panel even noted “Respondent’s
> [non-commercial cybersquatting] is not the equivalent of exercising the
> right of free speech outside Complainant’s business street address but of
> impermissibly blocking traffic to that street address.” [Jenner & Block LLC
> v. Defaultdata.com, Case No. FA0207000117310 (Nat’l Arb. F. 2002)].
>
> Precedent isn't as valuable/binding in UDRP as it is in the courts, but
> there's a stronger case to be made if she uses that route.
>
> Matt Sanderson
> Caplin & Drysdale, Chtd.
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 5:03 PM, David Mason <dmason12 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> 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
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 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, Eugene Volokh or
>>>> Ben Sheffner.
>>>>
>>>> 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; 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
>>>>
>>>> Issa Gags Wertheimer
>>>>
>>>> See here.
>>>>
>>>> Posted by Rick Hasen at 10:42 AM
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> 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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