Glenn Beck Loses Dispute Over Parody Domain

CuteSteveJobs writes "Glenn Beck fought the law and the law won. Parody website DidGlennBeckRapeAndMurderAYoungGirlIn1990.com attacked Beck using the same straw man arguments Beck himself is famous for: 'We're not accusing Glenn Beck of raping and murdering a young girl in 1990 — in fact, we think he didn't! But we can't help but wonder ... Why won't he deny that he raped and killed a young girl in 1990?' Beck didn't see the humour and tried to have the site shut down. He sued the creator on the grounds the site 'violated his name as a trademark.' But in a sudden outbreak of common sense, WIPO rejected Beck's complaint finding the site 'can be said to be making a political statement,' which is a 'legitimate non-commercial use' of Beck's name. But after winning, the owner voluntarily handed Beck the domain anyway. Still, it's comforting to know that satire — the only weapon politicians and talking heads fear — is still safely in the hands of the public where it belongs."

Comments

For everyone who is going WTF who is Glenn Beck

[YeeHaW_Jelte]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Beck

And the allegations of rape and murder seem to be the internet equivalent of small-town gossip, which might have a seed of truth or might be an elaborate attempt by his political opponents to a smear campaign.

Any Americans care to extend the info on this controversy for all us non-Americans?

Re:For everyone who is going WTF who is Glenn Beck

[corbettw]

Beck is famous for attacking politicians (especially Obama) by "asking questions". So some internet smart asses used his own style against him. Turns out he doesn't like it when the shoe's on the other foot.

Re:For everyone who is going WTF who is Glenn Beck

[Trev311]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Beck

And the allegations of rape and murder seem to be the internet equivalent of small-town gossip, which might have a seed of truth or might be an elaborate attempt by his political opponents to a smear campaign.

Any Americans care to extend the info on this controversy for all us non-Americans?

Glen Beck is a radio talkshow host and a TV showhost on FOX News. He is very conservative and has been in the news for making some... missteps in his commentary that have made him come off as not extremely intelligent. The allegations are a parody of his style of reporting, which follows a similar logic(Example: the president hasn't denied that he was born out of the us, so if it isn't true why hasn't he?). So the point isn't to say if he actually did rape or murder anyone, but to draw attention to the flaw in his logic. Glen Beck just made it worse by drawing so much attention to the website and the entire story.

Re:For everyone who is going WTF who is Glenn Beck

[spun]

Glenn Beck, to this day, repeats the lie that Obama was born in Kenya. He asks, if he was born here, why doesn't he prove it? Obama has, of course, but Beck acts as though he hasn't. So someone decided to apply Glen Beck's own tactics against him, by forcing him to deny ridiculous allegations over and over again.

Re:This is an attack on the teabaggers

[Brad Mace]

particularly after our huge victory in NY-23

The one where you got a democrat elected instead of a moderate republican? Or is my satire detector off?

Re:icing on the cake:

[Foolicious]

I admittedly don't know anything about this case. I haven't even RTFA! But on reading your post, I do wonder what the difference is between using and abusing the system. He tried and lost. That would suggest no abuse at all, just use.

Re:Why bother?

[nomadic]

The thing that I don't understand is that Glenn gets on his show and shows video of some member of saying something like, "I used to be a communist. Now I'm a radical communist." and people attack Glenn Beck!!??!! The only refutations of what Glenn Beck says are personal insults against him and his viewers.

Refuted.

Re:Why bother?

[Killer Orca]

There are much better examples, all on one handy page too! http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/personalities/glenn-beck/

Re:icing on the cake:

[nomadic]

It doesn't look like he did abuse the system, unless I'm missing some fine point.

He brought this to the WIPO, which is intended to resolve intellectual property rights, not defamation torts. A proper use of the system would have been to file a defamation action in a US court of general jurisdiction.

Re:Has the real question been answered?

[realityimpaired]

As a Canadian, I don't really get the reference, either. But as near as I can tell, from reading the posts on this thread, he's one of those ultra-conservative blowhards who makes his living by indirectly accusing people of committing outrageous acts. He's the kind of person who'd go on the radio saying something like "I'm not saying Tony Blair is a sheep-shagger, but why hasn't he denied calling the vet to his home under 'suspicious' circumstances last Tuesday at 3am?" As a rational thinker, you know that he's just spewing BS, but you're forgetting that Beck's audience is largely American. They haven't demonstrated any rational thought, as a nation, since proving in 1776 that they had no clue how to make tea. ^.~

It reminds me of McCarthyism... Joe McCarthy used to ask people pointed questions that included veiled accusations phrased as statement of fact. "Tell me, Inda, Why do you hate America?". Not "do you hate America"... in the phrasing of the question it's assumed that you hate America, and he's not asking you for a yes/no, he's asking for an explanation of why.

Re:Why bother?

[nomadic]

Did I summarize it right?

No. You've obviously read the first paragraph, and the last paragraph, but there's good stuff in the middle:

So Jones was a self-avowed communist. But is he still? The answer lies in the very same article. Even before the group disbanded in 2002, the Express article says, "Jones began transforming his politics and work..." According to the article, "He took an objective look at the movement's effectiveness and decided that the changes he was seeking were actually getting farther away. Not only did the left need to be more unified, he decided, it might also benefit from a fundamental shift in tactics. 'I realized that there are a lot of people who are capitalists -- shudder, shudder -- who are really committed to fairly significant change in the economy, and were having bigger impacts than me and a lot of my friends with our protest signs,' he said."

And even better:

"There will surely be an important role for nonprofit voluntary, cooperative, and community-based solutions," Jones writes on page 86. "But the reality is that we are entering an era during which our very survival will demand invention and innovation on a scale never before seen in the history of human civilization. Only the business community has the requisite skills, experience, and capital to meet that need. On that score, neither the government nor the nonprofit and voluntary sectors can compete, not even remotely. "So in the end, our success and survival as a species are largely and directly tied to the new eco-entrepreneurs -- and the success and survival of their enterprises. Since almost all of the needed eco-technologies are likely to come from the private sector, civic leaders and voters should do all that can be done to help green business leaders succeed. That means, in large part, electing leaders who will pass bills to aid them. We cannot realistically proceed without a strong alliance between the best of the business world -- and everyone else."

In context, yes, Beck is a liar for saying the guy's a communist.

Re:icing on the cake:

[commodore64_love]

You are right that Beck would have been wiser to ignore the website, and respect their right of free speech.
Even dickheads like the KKK have that right to smear other people.

As for Beck's show, I think it's worth watching. I would not have known that Mr. Jones wants to take my money and give it to Indians ("give them the wealth") or that he believes whites are poisoning blacks ("dumping their pollution in black neighborhoods") or tat he used to be not just Obama's right hand man, but also a communist. ----- I would not have known about the ACORN scandal where they advise their customers to cover-up illegal prostitution houses, and file false claims with the IRS. ----- I would not have known that Obama's Communication Director considers Mother Teresa and Chairman Mao her favorite philosophers, and that she admire how Mao overthrew the Democratic Chinese government.

Beck may be a nitwit but he's the only one revealing what's happening behind closed doors.
NBC, CNN, and the rest certainly don't discuss these things.
MSNBC goes so far as to edit video of a black man carrying a rifle, and then saying he's a "white racist".
link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYKQJ4-N7LI

 

Re:icing on the cake:

[jahudabudy]

Except he didn't sue for libel in the applicable court system, presumably b/c he knew he would lose. He tried to get WIPO to grant him ownership of the site based on trademark infringement. B/c the site name included his name, which he has apparently not even trademarked. Strikes me as a desperate attempt to censor something he didn't like, but knew was perfectly legal.

Re:icing on the cake:

[fahrbot-bot]

You still have stuffed animals? It's okay. I know an anarchist who still sleeps with Pound Puppies, although his wife isn't too fond of the situation.

I have several (and I'm 46). My wife and I couldn't have children and she had pet allergies, so we got stuffed animals. They loved to give her hugs and kisses and play in her underwear drawer. She died of a brain tumor in January 2006 (after 20 years together). I cherish my memories of us and our stuffed animals.

Re:icing on the cake:

[nomadic]

Try again.
Blue states support the red welfare states.

Red states do pull ahead of the blue states in teen pregnancy rates, though, so you have that going for you.
detroit (falling apart more every day)

Oh, cherry-picking examples, are we? Detroit is failing because when an entire industry disappears seattle (crime skyrocketing)

Still a lot safer than that reddest of cities, Dallas, in that reddest of states, Texas.

new york (do i even need to say anything here)

I think you do; I live in NYC and it's a pretty good place to live, even with the world economy like it is.

With out fail, blue leadership has been killing all our major cities.

That is the most profoundly ignorant statement I've read today. Have you ever been to a major city? Or do you just listen to what Glenn Beck tells you from the safety of your little suburb?

Re:Not entirely true

[kenaaker]

There is no "controversy" about the birth documentation.

The document presented is prima facia evidence that Obama was born in Hawaii. That is what the Hawaii state seal on the document and the signature of the state official on the document attest to. The republican governor of Hawaii and the Hawaii state officials responsible for maintaining those records have both publicly confirmed that they have reviewed the documents that are in state custody and those documents also prove that Obama was born in Hawaii.

The noise from the birthers is just denial.

Re:Exactly

[Rasputin]

"No, but you do have to admit that this is pretty much the first time a president or administration or party in power has overtly dismissed an entire news network, and actually spoken ill specifically of them"

Nope. In the 2004 election the Bush campaign faxed out dossiers attacking specific reporters and, even, whole news organizations. Bush was also the President who apologetically called a reporter a "major league asshole" on national TV.