Internet Law
Glenn Beck Loses Trademark Claim Over Domain Name
Posted Nov 10, 2009 9:50 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Glenn Beck has lost a trademark claim over a domain name that is part of a parody of his interviewing style.
An arbitrator with the World Intellectual Property Organization rejected Beck’s claim against glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com, Online Media Daily reports. The arbitrator said the site’s creator, Isaac Eiland-Hall, was making a political statement that was a legitimate noncommercial use of Beck’s name.
The site was created after a commenter on Fark.com asked, with no basis in fact, "Why haven't we had an official response to the rumor that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990?"
Eiland-Hall had argued the website was a parody using the same rhetorical techniques that Beck uses on air. Eiland-Hall’s lawyer, Marc Randazza, also claimed there was no possibility of confusion. "Only an abject imbecile could believe that the domain name would have any connection to the complainant," Randazza wrote in legal papers.
The story said a contrary decision would have encouraged subjects of online parodies to take their complaints to WIPO rather than U.S. courts, where First Amendment protections apply.
- How B of A’s GC Got Fired: Leave Now, and Leave Your BlackBerry Behind
- Schools Ranked by 'Super Lawyers' Produced
- Law Firm Price Wars Break Out as Some Try ‘Loss Leader’ Bids for Work
- Five Questions for Law Firms Abandoning Lockstep Compensation
- Judge Jails 2 Attorneys for Contempt in 4 Days
- Reed Smith Will Ask Nonequity Partners to Pony Up Possibly 15% of Pay
- Court Deputy Ordered to Apologize or Face Jail After Taking Lawyer's Paperwork
- Skadden Jumps on the Bonus Bandwagon
- ABA Executive Director Resigns
- Nasty Attitude to Co-Worker, Naughty Word in E-Mail Cost 2 Their Jobs
Should Supreme Court Justices Be Able to Review News Accounts Before Publication?
Comments
AndytheLawyer
Nov 10, 2009 10:27 AM CST
And Mr. Beck continues to fail and refuse to offer any evidence to disprove ithe rumor’s truth or otherwise substantively respond to it, Hmmmm…....
Flag this comment
associate
Nov 10, 2009 11:35 AM CST
www.andythelawyerrapedandmurderedaboyin1990.com Are you going to deny you raped that little boy?
The difference being that Beck is simply asking people about things that they have said on video. Not simply making up facts and disparaging one’s name with them. That said, he should have known (and probably did know) that WIPO would never support him because of who he is, regardless of the merits of his claim. And, the proper action here is defamation anyway, so the decision is probably on the right track.
Flag this comment
AndytheLawyer
Nov 10, 2009 1:45 PM CST
Sure, associate. I’m denying it right now. Let me know when Beck does.
Flag this comment
B. McLeod
Nov 10, 2009 2:44 PM CST
I happened to catch a few minutes of one of this person’s broadcasts one day while channel-surfing. He was going on like a crazy person, ranting about “eating the rich,” so I moved on to the Cartoon Network. I would not hazard a guess concerning what he may have done to whom, in 1990, or otherwise. I am glad he does not live in my subdivision.
Flag this comment
associate
Nov 10, 2009 5:46 PM CST
Andy, you point out the flaw in my example. There aren’t thousands of me to perpetuate the lie as truth versus only you to defend against it. Nice work.
McLeod, oh, I get it now. We’re going to pull a “Rush Limbaugh” on Glenn Beck. We’re going to knowingly make false accusations about his actions and statements, and then say, “Well, all of the accusations may be false, but they fit with the reputation they created, so he’s still a bad guy.” Your type of dishonesty is a plague on this country.
Flag this comment
AndytheLawyer
Nov 10, 2009 5:53 PM CST
#5—As Freud said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. And sometimes a scenery-chewer who sounds like a crazy person really is a crazy person—even if he lives on your side of the political spectrum.
Flag this comment
B. McLeod
Nov 10, 2009 8:20 PM CST
“Associate,” what?
I haven’t accused this Beck person of anything, I merely mentioned “things that [he has] said on video.”
Flag this comment
Richard
Nov 11, 2009 4:57 AM CST
“We’re going to knowingly make false accusations about his actions and statements, and then say, “Well, all of the accusations may be false, but they fit with the reputation they created, so he’s still a bad guy.” Your type of dishonesty is a plague on this country.”
hear, hear.. why, even the last POTUS was guilty of that one.
( re: Saddam Hussein and WMD )
Flag this comment
Hmm
Nov 11, 2009 11:59 AM CST
I wonder what the comments would look like if we had the exact some facts, but replaced the name “Glenn Beck” with “Barack Obama.”
Im sure the same people would support the website…
Flag this comment
Add a Comment
We welcome your comments, but please adhere to our comment policy.