Jerry Falwell Wins Dispute Over Fallwell.com

setzman writes "According to this article from CNN, conservative minister Jerry Falwell has succeeded in shutting down a web site run by a gay activist on the domain fallwell.com. The judge said it was 'nearly identical' to the registered trademark 'Jerry Falwell' name and was likely to be confusing to Web surfers." (This was a Federal case, held in the 4th Circuit Court.)

Comments

Sad news ... Jerry Falwell, dead at 72

[paiute]

I just heard some sad news on talk radio - televangelist Jerry Falwell was found dead in his Alabama home this morning. Apparently he was found impaled on a Sybian fitted with a 14 inch black dong. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his theology, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.

Re:There are Gay & Lesbian Christians!

[bluekanoodle]

I know I'm sticking my neck out for a flame here, but the Bible is quite clear about how God feels about homesexuality. Now you can be Gay, but choose to abstain from that lifestyle and be a Christian, but if you are practicing gay sex, or even straight, practicing sex out of marriage, you are sinning. Just because somebody calls themselves a Christian doesn't mean they are. I'm not talking about just gay & Lesbians either, but anyone who profess's the Bible with their lips, and sins with their hearts. Does that mean there is no hope for you? No, just that, if you really want to call yourself a Christian, you need to renounce your ways. Now if you don't believe in God, or Jesus Christ, don't start flaming me about how stupid the religion is, or how science is always right, I don't care. I'm speaking to those who claim christianity, yet don't practice it in their lives. How is it that if a Christian speaks out against what they see as sin, they are accused of intolerance and bigotry, when in reality those who attack them are showing intolerance and bigotry to the Christians beliefs? In regards to why the gay and lesbian can't exercise their "free speech rights" against Jerry Falwell, they can. They just can do it by trying to lure people into their site by taking advantage of His name and reputation. Think of it like a business, I spend years building my autoshop up until its a household name, all of sudden the a competitor starts up across the street and names his business 1 letter diferent then mine. I get most my business from referalls, so all my new customers get confused and don't know which autoshop to go to.

In this case, Falwell.com does operate in the same realm of 'business" It's purpose is to counter Jerry Falwell ,and can be very misleading. Should I be able to open a new search engine and call it gogle.com?

Re:A good ruling

[operagost]

No it's not. Please cite a quote from Falwell where he says those things.

Here's what he's really said - he belives homosexuality is wrong behavior and he has criticized the Disney corporation for "Gay Day", not for their open employment policies. He also has claimed that God may be allowing terrorists to attack America because of our evil works. His beliefs harmonize with the Bible, so if you think the Bible is all hooey then that's fine, but don't claim he just has these ideas because OMG HES A B1G07!!!!!11