Fergie's Tech Blog

Falwell critic can keep domain name

Thanks to Mike over at techdirt.com for pointing this out.

Anne Broache writes over on C|Net News:

Web site with a domain name resembling Rev. Jerry Falwell's can continue to vent about the preacher's anti-gay views, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday.

A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed a lower court's ruling, which had prohibited Christopher Lamparello from "maintaining a gripe Web site critical of Jerry Falwell," the appeals court opinion said.

Falwell's attorney, John Midlen, said he was "disappointed and dismayed" at the decision and plans to seek a rehearing, while Lamparello's attorney, Paul Levy, in an e-mail hailed the decision as "a very important Internet free-speech decision, perhaps the most significant of our domain name cases from the past several years."

Lamparello registered Fallwell.com in 1999 after hearing Falwell give an interview containing what he considered to be offensive opinions about homosexuality, according to the appeals court opinion. The front page of the site, Fallwell.com, implores visitors to continue exploring the site "to see why Rev. Falwell is completely wrong about people who are gay or lesbian." Inside, it links to articles intended to dispel what Lamparello deemed untruths about gay people. It also contains disclaimers that contain links to Falwell's official site.

posted by Fergie @ 8/24/2005 05:34:00 PM