Lowell wrote, in part: >But yes, I think Gridasov would have lost anyway since the case is similar >existing trademark law. If you or I were to start a car-repair or car-parts >facility named "Forde" or "Gee-eM", attorney's from the respective companies >(can you guess which ones?) would descend like locusts and demand a >cease-and-desist court order and probably damages to compensate for the loss >of reputation, etc. (Of course, that assumes that you got the legal name >past the State corporate registration folks.)
>It's also similar to what is covered by existing cybersquatting law that >allowed large corporations to take over web sites named after their >trademarks without paying exhorbitant prices. >On the one hand you could argue that a free capitalist system should allow >someone who has obtained some property (in this case, a domain name) full >ownership of such property. And, you could argue that someone who has an >interest in something was derelict if they did not protect their legal right >to it. >On the other hand, you could argue that a person who has done nothing to >make the property valuable has less right to it than the person (or >organization) which has spent millions or even billions of dollars making it >have value. >Whatever your opinion of the matter, this is certainly NOT a good case to >attempt to argue that Gridasov should get to keep the domains. A person >using shady methods to acquire and keep property that he is using for >nefarious purposes is not exactly what I would call a "sympathetic >plaintiff." Even if you want to "stand on principle," there are still times >to breathe a sigh of relief that a case didn't go to court. Not only that, but at least one libertarian lawyer I know of (Ralph Fucetola -- he's mentioned in "It Usually Begins With Ayn Rand" and "Alongside Night") has been on the side of a case that helps establish precedent on the side of the person who has made the cyber-property valuable against someone who deliberately (and probably maliciously) tried to usurp it by similar means to the above. http://vitaminlawyer.com where I think he's written an article about it. In Your Sly Tribe, Robert _______________________________________________ Libnw mailing list [email protected] List info and subscriber options: http://immosys.com/mailman/listinfo/libnw Archives: http://immosys.com/mailman//pipermail/libnw
