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Glenn Beck domain dispute clarifies intentions of website creator Eiland-Hall
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AP Photo Evan Agostini
Causing an element of Glenn Beck curiosity on the net this week is the recent WIPO decision. Glenn Beck's request for the domain name glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com, created by an anti-Glenn Beck provocateur, was denied by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The sole panelist on the arbitration panel at WIPO issued the decision on October 29th. The panel denied the request that the disputed domain name be transferred to Glenn Beck on the basis that "it was not sufficiently in violation of Glenn Beck’s trademark online."
It was the disputed domain name created on September 1, 2009 which both asserted the rumor and satirically questioned whether "Glenn Beck Rape and Murder a Young Girl in 1990".
According to the WIPO ADMINISTRATIVE PANEL DECISION
glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com had the following statements posted:
"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."
The WIPO decision was based on the following conclusions:
"That the combination of political speech engaged in by Respondent and the substantial lack of commercial intent makes it unlikely to this Panel that Complainant (Glenn Beck and Mercury Radio Arts, Inc.) would have succeeded in demonstrating bad faith registration and use."
However, as if the web attention and the decision in favor of website creator, Isaac Eiland-Hall, were not rewarding enough, Eiland-Hall continued his antagonism of Glenn Beck by getting in-- what for the moment is-- the final word on the matter.
In a letter to Glenn Beck, Eiland-Hall not only offered the disputed domain name to Glenn Beck, but Eiland-Hall then continued to champion his own first amendment rights.
In case the purpose of the satirical website had evaded Glenn Beck, Eiland-Hall attempted to ensure one more time that Beck understood just how much Isaac Eiland-Hall despises Beck's exercise of his First Amendment rights. From Eiland-Hall's letter:
But, humor aside, your rhetorical style is no laughing matter. In this context of this WIPO case, you denigrated the letter of First Amendment law. In the context of your television show and your notoriety, you routinely and shamelessly denigrate the spirit of the First Amendment. The purpose of the expressive freedoms embodied in the First Amendment is not to simply permit the greatest possible scope of expression, but also, in doing so, to also strive for excellence in the conveyance of ideas.
Here, it possibly could be argued as to which person is actually guilty of abusing the First Amendment.
The WIPO panel contended that
"The disputed domain name standing alone (i.e., without the second step of visiting Respondent’s website) itself is undoubtedly unflattering, pejorative and inflammatory (presumably Respondent’s intent). Whether it is “defamatory” is likely to be a difficult question, and in any event one more suited to resolution by a court than in an administrative proceeding under the Policy. "
Finally, for those who are still uncertain about the claims made at glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com, WIPO posted this from the website in question:
"Anyone who believes that we’re trying to actually get people to believe Glenn Beck raped and/or murdered is *whoosh* missing the entire point. So don’t be dumb like a lot of people are. I greatly expanded this text because so many people *read* it, and *still* didn’t understand."
and from the panel decision:
"Respondent [Isaac Eiland-Hall] argues that the disputed domain name is a meme that is based on the technique deriving from a comedy sketch performed by Gilbert Gottfried on a Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget during which Mr. Gottfried made continuing references to an unflattering rumor concerning Mr. Saget (similar to the one embodied in the disputed domain name), while requesting that those repeating the rumor cease to do so."
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