PETA gets control of parody peta.org domain, says appeals court

[Declan McCullagh]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46313,00.html

    Ethical Treatment of PETA Domain
    By Declan McCullagh (declan at wired.com)
    2:00 a.m. Aug. 25, 2001 PDT

    WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court has ruled that a website titled
    "People Eating Tasty Animals" is not only a bad joke, but also an
    unlawful one.

    The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals said this week that the peta.org
    domain name, registered in 1995 by a man who planned to parody the
    nonprofit group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was an
    illegal trademark infringement.

    Michael Doughney's peta.org parody site lampooned vegetarianism --
    which the real PETA insists upon -- and applauded carnivorism, dubbing
    itself a tongue-in-cheek "resource for those who enjoy eating meat,
    wearing fur and leather, hunting and the fruits of scientific
    research." (PETA opposes medical research on animals even in cases
    where human lives could be saved.)

    The site's not-so-subtle mockery was red meat to PETA officials, who
    promptly sued, convinced a federal judge they were right, and then
    demanded Doughney pay them over $300,000 in attorney's fees and court
    costs, including photocopying, faxes, courier services, postage,
    travel, mileage, tolls and parking, long distance telephone calls and
    "miscellaneous" items.

    [...]




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