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Glenn Beck loses and wins domain name case
Handed site after doing satirist's work for him
Conspiraloon Glenn Beck has lost, but also won, a case to win control of a domain he believed was infringing his copyright.
The Fox News reporter lost the case, but won back the web address anyway.
Florida resident Isaac Eiland-Hall had registered the domain glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com. The website, now sadly gone, asked world shaking questions like: "Did Glenn Beck Murder and Rape a Young Girl in 1990?"
But a disclaimer at the bottom of the page gave the game away. It said:
Notice: This site is parody/satire. We assume Glenn Beck did not rape and murder a young girl in 1990, although we haven’t yet seen proof that he didn’t. But we think Glenn Beck definitely uses tactics like this to spread lies and misinformation.
Beck took the case to the World Intellectual Property Organisation claiming trademark rights on this own name.
Eiland-Hall wrote to Beck and handed over the site voluntarily even though WIPO ruled in his favour on grounds of satire.
In a letter he pointed out to Beck that his actions had turned a tiny internet meme into a big story. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
