A Salt Lake City organization that is critical of the LDS Church filed suit Monday accusing a pro-Mormon foundation of trademark infringement and unfair competition.
The suit by Utah Lighthouse Ministry Inc. accuses The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR) of registering 13 Internet domain names associated with UTLM, including those of founders Jerald and Sandra Tanner, to create confusion. . . .
The alleged cybersquatting—the practice of registering or using Internet domain names with the intent of profiting from the good will associated with someone else's trademark—takes visitors looking for UTLM publications to a selection of hyperlinks to articles posted on FAIR's Web site instead, the suit contends. In addition, it says, these internet sites "bear a remarkable resemblance of 'look and feel' to the UTLM Web site." . . .
The legal action seeks transfer to UTLM of the 13 domain names, which were registered in 2003 and 2004 by Allen Wyatt, and triple the unspecified money damages suffered by the ministry ("Ministry Files Suit Over Web Sites," Salt Lake Tribune, April 26, 2005).
On Wednesday, April 27, the Deseret News ran a similar article on the suit. Neither paper contacted us for a statement. The thirteen domain names are:
- utahlighthouseministry.org
- utahlighthouseministry.com
- utahlighthouse.org
- utahlighthouse.com
- utahlighthouse.info
- sandratanner.org
- sandratanner.com
- sandratanner.info
- jeraldtanner.org
- jeraldtanner.com
- jeraldtanner.info
- geraldtanner.org
- geraldtanner.com
Exhibits 40-46 of the complaint are emails from various people who stumbled across the bogus sites.
Exhibit 40 is an email from a woman who wrote "that when you type in utahlighthouse.com or even utahlighthouseministries.com you're redirected to an anti-utlm site, which looks EXACTLY like your site!!!" (Complaint, p. 19)
One man wrote "the website utahlighthouse.com is a hacked site paroding and slamming this site." (Complaint p. 19)
After visiting www.utahlighthouse.org another man wrote "I assume you already knew about it, but just in case you didn't, you really should have a look. If that isn't illegal manipulation of the image and purpose of your Website, I don't know what is!" (Complaint p. 20)
In Exhibit 46 a customer wrote "I went to www.utahlighthouseministry.com and found a different site, obviously not yours, talk about deceptive, let me tell you." (Complaint p. 21)
On the next page is a copy of Exhibit 1, our opening web page, and Exhibit 29, one of the web pages of the defendants. Wyatt's web sites were specifically designed to mimic the "look and feel" of our official site. All of the sites have now been taken down but that does not resolve the problem of "acts of cybersquatting, trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition in violation of the laws of the United States of America and the State of Utah." (See Utah Lighthouse Ministry, Inc. a Utah Corporation, Plaintiff, v. Discovery Computing, Inc., an Arizona Corporation and Allen L. Wyatt, an individual, Debra M. Wyatt, an individual, The Foundation For Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR), a New York Corporation and Scott Gordon, an individual, and Does 1-10, inclusive, Defendants. United States District Court, District of Utah, Central Division, case number 2:05CV00380 DAK
By Geoffrey Fattah
Deseret Morning News
A Salt Lake-based group known for its criticism of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has filed suit accusing a pro-LDS group of securing Internet domain names associated with the names of their organization and founders.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court by Utah Lighthouse Ministry Inc., claims Allen Wyatt, his wife Debra Wyatt and The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) registered 13 Internet domain names associated with Utah Lighthouse Ministry and the names of its founders, Jerald and Sandra Tanner.
The actions, UTLM alleges, amounts to cybersquatting, in which a person registers domain names with the intent to benefit from the name association.
The Tanners use UTLM to publish and sell books, newsletters and Internet content critical of the LDS Church. The suit alleges that the domainsregistered to Wyatt, which
includes utahlighthouse.com, sandratanner.com and jeraldtanner.com directed people to FAIR's Web site.
The suit names FAIR, a New York corporation, and its president Scott Gordon, as well as Allen Wyatt, his wife Debra, and their company, Discovery Computing Inc. out of Mesa Ariz.
Speaking from Mesa, Allen Wyatt said he had not been served with the suit and did not know enough about the allegations to respond. Wyatt said his registration of the domain names was within his first-amendment rights and was used as a way to reach those critical of the LDS Church to see the point of view of LDS members. Wyatt said FAIR is a non-profit "grass-roots" organization that is not affiliated with the LDS Church, unlike FARMS (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies), which is based out of Brigham Young University.
For alleged violations of cybersquatting, trademark
infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition, UTLM is asking a federal judge to order that the Wyatts and FAIR disclose and turn over all associated registered domain names and pay three times the damages found by the court.
Wyatt said he has yet to determine how to proceed with the suit. The links to FAIR's Web site using the contested domain names have been taken down, he said.
Dave Hansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
http://www.covenantnews.com/baldwin050610.htm
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http://www.langlitz.com
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