Jerry Falwell Goes After More Domains
from the the-bible-says-so dept
A few years ago, the Rev. Jerry Falwell made some news for trying over and over again to find different ways to attack some people who ran domain names on a variation of his name. After losing at WIPO and losing in Federal Court over domain squatting, he tried a different tact, and claimed that the use of his name in a domain name was a trademark violation. Sick of going through the process, the domains were turned over to him. So, is it any surprise that when another person comes up with a variation on his name for a website critical of him, he goes after them as well. And, of course, his lawyer has to make biblical references in claiming the domain belongs to the Reverend -- though, the biblical reference (about Moses and stealing) doesn't actually seem to have anything to do with this case, since the guy isn't "stealing" anything. Still, if you're in a position to bring God down on your side, I guess you use it.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
There's no need to pick on Jerry Falwell.
Regardless, any corporate entity would and does the same thing to protect itself. For example, if there was a website out there going by the name PnG.com or P&G.com (or similar variations) and giving out anti-Procter and Gamble information, you can bet that Procter and Gamble would have its lawyers down on them in a heartbeat.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]