IP: Falwell goes to WIPO (!)

[David Farber <dfarber () earthlink net>]

So who has priority. Wipo or the bill of rights?

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Saffo <psaffo () iftf org>
Date: Sun, 07 Apr 2002 11:31:51 
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Falwell goes to WIPO (!)

Dave-
A fascinating dust-up that is headed to WIPO. Note especially the response
of the parody site owner to Falwell at:
http://www.internetparodies.org/lawsuit2.html

-p

---------------
Rev. Jerry Falwell files complaint over Web site bearing his name

Thursday, April 4, 2002
C2002 Associated Press

URL:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/04/04/nati
onal1856EST0779.DTL


(04-04) 15:56 PST LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) --

The Rev. Jerry Falwell claims a Web site that spoofs his views on the
Bible and his fund-raising methods violates a trademark of his name.

Falwell filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property
Organization against the owner of the site which can be accessed at
www.jerryfalwell.com and www.jerryfallwell.com.

Falwell and The Liberty Alliance -- a nonprofit organization affiliated
with Jerry Falwell Ministries -- own the site www.falwell.com.

A section of the Web site called "How to follow the Bible" has an open
letter to Falwell, referring to his citation of biblical passages that
speak against homosexuality.

It asks Falwell to explain how other passages from the Bible should be
followed: "I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned
in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair
price for her?"

The complaint, filed in November, says the parody site violates a
"common-law trademark" of his name.

In a response filed last week, the site's owner, Gary Cohn of Highland
Park, Ill., says Falwell's name isn't entitled to trademark protection
since he hasn't used it "to identify certain goods and services."

Falwell "is trying to shut down a noncommercial Internet site that makes
fun of him for blaming the Sept. 11 bombing of American landmarks on the
supposed moral decline of America, and quotes the Bible at Falwell in
the exact same way that Falwell likes to quote it at other people,"
Cohen wrote.

The WIPO, based in Geneva, Switzerland, will appoint a three-person
panel to decide the case.

In the 1980s, Falwell sued Hustler publisher Larry Flynt over an
off-color parody in the magazine. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of
Flynt, saying that even extreme forms of parody are protected by the
First Amendment.

C2002 Associated Press

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