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Domain-Name Protest Is Protected Speech

Posted by timothy on from the damn-straight dept.

Lunartik links to this Detroit Free Press report, writing "The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled Friday that Michelle Grosse did not violate the law when she used the name of Lucas Nursery and Landscaping Inc. for a Web site she created to complain about the Canton, MI nursery. 'This is a very important case,' said Paul Levy, staff attorney with the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. 'This is a mainstream circuit court that said using the Internet and the name of the company to criticize a company is perfectly legitimate.'"

9 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. I'm confused... by TR0GD0RtheBURNiNAT0R · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "This is a mainstream circuit court that said using the Internet and the name of the company to criticize a company is perfectly legitimate."

    How is this not legitimate???

    I thought usuing the name of a company to criticize said company was perfectly legal

    ...or am I supposed to refer to Micro$oft as something else?

    --
    This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
    1. Re:I'm confused... by JayBlalock · · Score: 5, Insightful
      EXACTLY.

      Certain powers were attempting to twist trademark law into, essentially, outlawing negative speech about their products. They were just fighting it in the realm of the Internet, a place regarding which the courts can make very silly decisions, due to their misunderstanding of it.

      Now we just need a judgement striking down "Thou shalt not speak badly of us," terms in EULAs, which have been used to intimidate publications into not running negative reviews.

      --
      Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
  2. Precedent set? by PedanticSpellingTrol · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Too bad it wasn't in time for these guys

  3. Sadly... by robochan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Although she owns the site name until 2005, Grosse said she is done. "I am so broke right now defending myself. . . . I defended freedom of speech but I don't want to open that can of worms again."
    Sadly, it costs a lot of money to exercise free speech in America

    --
    ...Rob
    The American Dream isn't an SUV and a house in the suburbs; it's Don't Tread On Me.
  4. I find this rather suprising... by supersat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you read the article, you'll see that she didn't register something like lucasnurserysucks.com, but lucasnursery.com. I'm suprised that it wasn't decided that she was using their name to trick potential customers into going to her site, since many people assume companyname.com will work. It'd be similar to someone registering slashdot.com (if it wasn't already registered) to make an anti-Slashdot site.

  5. I disagree by mcx101 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think it would have been acceptable if she had something like http://www.lucasnurserysucks.com but she didn't have the right to take the domain name that was the name of the company. Where are they supposed to have their website then? Not everyone necessarily agrees that Lucas Nursery and Landscaping Inc. sucks.

    --
    My operat~1 system unders~1 long filena~1 , does yours?
    1. Re:I disagree by Ironica · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think it would have been acceptable if she had something like http://www.lucasnurserysucks.com but she didn't have the right to take the domain name that was the name of the company.

      Interesting. How many "Lucas Nursery" businesses do you suppose there are out there? Besides landscaping and plants, there might be nursery schools under that name as well. How do you decide who has the "right" to take the domain name?

      Domain names are generally first-come, first-serve for exactly that reason. It's pointless to say whether she had the "right" to the domain name; they weren't trying to do business online and they didn't have a website, so she beat them to the punch.

      --
      Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
  6. Re:Free Speech or George Orwell by orthogonal · · Score: 5, Funny

    It concerns me that this even got this far ... are we going to be validated for everything we say or write - sound's Orwellian.

    Dear Mr. Coward:

    I represent the owners of the estate of Eric Blair, better known by his nom de plume, "George Orwell".

    You may remember Mr. Blair for such tropes as "a boot heel stamping a human face-forever", "the Two-minute Hate", "newspeak", "Animal Farm" and of course, "Big Brother".

    What know may not know, but I am now for the record informing you, is that Mr. Blair's Intellectual Property in these and other phrases, including the adjective "Orwellian" itself, has been acquired by The Mouse That Ate The Public Domain, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Corporatism Turns Individuals into ConsumerSheep, Ltd., a division of All Your Base Are Belong To A Few Rich Men and Their Lobbyists, LLC.

    As representative of the afore-mentioned corporation, I am writing you to demand that you cease and desist from using the word "Orwellian", or any other Intellectual Property belonging to ny client, except with express written permission.

    Should you wish to arrange a limited license to use the word Orwellian -- either on a per use basis, or for a set period --, please contact my office immediately for a rate sheet.

    Thank you,
    A. Lackey

    Law Offices of
    Plutocrat, Prevaricator and Politico,
    Attorneys at Law

    --
    Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
  7. Backwards compatibility by alexandr19 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Do you think they'll notice? http://www.tsewq.com

    Are we perfect? Of course not. Do we (as you say in your website) "suck"? Far from it.

    Now to get to the legal stuff. Your false and defamatory statements and your use of the Qwest name and trademark are illegal. You should cease and desist from using the Qwest trademark and publishing false, defamatory and disparaging statements. We would like to resolve this matter without legal action, but will pursue a lawsuit if necessary.

    I would be happy to meet with you at your convenience before we both start spending money on lawyers.     -- Legal Dept Letter

    Money, when isn't it about money.