[ga] Re: FC: Airplane critic gets sued over site -- but insurance pays defense

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

Declan and all,

  Very interesting case here.  Perhaps the ICANN GNSO/DNSO
UDRP Task force could gain a clue from these sorts of cases.
But somehow I kinda doubt it...
And so the TM - Domain Name wars continue...

  That's sticking it to them Jim and Paul!

Declan McCullagh wrote:

> ---
>
> Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 11:00:49 -0500
> From: "Paul Levy" <PLEVY@citizen.org>
> To: <declan@well.com>
> Cc: <jimfolts@yahoo.com>
> Subject: "First they nearly killed me ... now they're suing me!"
>
> That is the theme for the latest in the Internet trademark wars.
>
> Jim Folts, who lives near Knoxville Tennessee, suffered a mishap in a
> private plane that he was flying, and he felt that Piedmont Hawthorne
> Aviation, an airplane repair shop that had serviced his plane, was
> responsible.  He took his problem to the National Transportation Safety
> Board, which found that Piedmont Hawthorne was responsible.  But when
> Folts set up a website titled Aircraft Pilots for Better Maintenance,
> and used Piedmont Hawthorne's name is his domain name and meta tags,
> Piedmont Hawthorne sued Folts alleging trademark and defamation
> theories.
>
> Piedmont appears to have sued the wrong guy, at the wrong time.  It is
> the wrong guy because Folts doesn't like being pushed around and, it
> turns out, he has the luxury of being able to afford to stand up for his
> free speech rights because Folts is covered for this lawsuit by his
> insurance.  So he is going to have a fully financed and high-class
> defense.  Indeed, the first thing I ask any cybergriper who comes to me
> is, do you have insurance coverage so that you can hire a lawyer.  If
> more people thoughy about this BEFORE they got threatened with
> litigation, they'd be a lot better off.  Second, the lawsuit was filed
> within days after the Sixth Circuit decided Taubman v. Mishkoff, which
> would seem to preclude the trademark claims altogether.   (we actually
> decided not to take the case because, in light of Taubman, it seemed
> clear to us that the trademark claims were untenable and the only real
> issues in the case was deframation for which a local lawyer would be
> better)
>
> The story, including information about the lawsuit, is now on Folts'
> website at http://www.aircraft-maintenance.com .  He stopped using the
> Piedmont-related domain name after he consulted a local lawyer.   Now
> that he has experienced trademark counsel, however, that may well
> change.
>
> Paul Alan Levy
> Public Citizen Litigation Group
> 1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
> Washington, D.C. 20009
> (202) 588-1000
> http://www.citizen.org/litigation/litigation.html
>
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Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 129k members/stakeholders strong!)
================================================================
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number: 214-244-4827 or 214-244-3801


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