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