The decision: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/DA1BA54F49B327A788256B5300003E66/$file/0055009.pdf?openelement --- http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50255,00.html Playmate Checkmates Hef's Mag By Declan McCullagh (declanat_private) 2:00 a.m. Feb. 7, 2002 PST WASHINGTON -- Terri Welles isn't just a nude model, the proud owner of a sex site and the 1981 Playboy Playmate of the Year. Thanks to a lawsuit brought by Playboy, Welles has become famous for much more than merely shedding her clothes for photographers. In a unanimous decision, a panel of federal judges from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said last Friday that terriwelles.com could feature the term "Playmate of the Year" because it did not infringe upon the trademarks of Playboy Enterprises (PEI). Playboy had accused the aging centerfold queen, who has appeared in 13 issues of the magazine and 18 newsstand specials, of allegedly infringing upon the bunny company's famous trademarks by including them in the text and meta tags of her website. The complaint threw the intellectual property book at Welles, charging trademark infringement, dilution, false designation of origin and unfair competition. But the three-judge panel, in an opinion written by Thomas Nelson, said that Welles had the right to use what amounted to her previous job title -- even if her porn site competed with Playboy's rather more famous homepage by hawking a $19.95 a month membership. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Feb 07 2002 - 10:33:36 PST