[Thomas has been a Politech subscriber (and frequent contributor!) since 1996, if I recall properly. Sorry for the delay in getting this out. --Declan] --- From: "Thomas Leavitt" <thomasat_private> To: "Declan McCullagh" <declanat_private> Cc: <PLEVYat_private>, <adminat_private>, "David Riski" <DRiskiat_private> Subject: Fw: www.savagestupidity.com Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 17:19:15 -0700 Declan, You know, I never thought Savage's lawyers would be stupid enough to actually nastygram me. Especially with a domain name dispute. I'm posting these documents to the SavageStupidity.com web site in the next hour or so, and will be sending out a press release far and wide in the next twenty-four hours with a detailed response. I'll also be posting this to the chillingeffects.org site immediately. I've also registered "klmfirmsucks.com", and will be putting up a web site ASAP that will detail this whole dispute, as well as encourage any businesses or organizations that currently do business with them to change lawyers. :) Any other folks whohave had similar issues with these nastygramers are welcome to post to that site as well. First of all, "savage" is a dictionary word, completely generic, as is "stupidity". The two, in combination, are a commentary on the savagely stupid nature of most of Michael Savage's supporters (as in "Lacking polish or manners; rude.", to cite entry #5 - well documented on the "HateMail" section), and indesputably constitute political and satirical free speech. See dictionary.com's definition of "savage", at http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=savage Their contention that "[t]he only difference between Complainant's MICHAEL SAVAGE mark and the disputed domain name is the replacement of the word 'Michael' with 'stupidity'" is ludicrous on the face of it - are they going to claim trademark rights on every combination of the world savage with other dictionary words?!? Apparently so, as they contend that the conjunction of "stupidity" with "savage" is not enough to avoid "confusion" on the part of non-English speakers. The fact is, "savage" and "stupidity" are two completely generic, dictionary words, the combination of the two does not in any way infringe on any trademark held by the whiny weiner dude, and I do have a very established right and legitimate interest in the domain name, as I've been maintaining the site since April 29th, 2002 and have invested hundreds of hours of time and energy into creating content for it, much of it of a generic nature. Further, Savage's lawyers said nothing about this for almost a full year (the domain name was registered in April 29th, 2002), even though the site generated significant media coverage in his home radio market and was easily findable in Google for almost that entire time, and general trademark law says that failure to act to defend a trademark within a reasonable time frame means you lose the right to it. If Savage wants to contend I'm trespassing on his trademark and have been since the site was put up, which as I said above, I dispute unconditionally, I am perfectly willing to contend that it should be invalidated on that basis. Their contention that the mere fact that my site shows up prominently in search engines when Michael Savage is searched for, and that the fact that even users who are understand that there is no association might visit it, causes damage, is also utterly ludicrous. By that logic, any site engaging in criticism of a trademark holder that is easily findable by individuals searching for information about the trademark holder should be shut down. I should optomize my site so that it does not show up in search engines when people look for information about Michael Savage? Give me a break! If this were upheld on that basis, free speech on the Internet would be dead. The they claim that I'm not engaging in "fair use" or "non-commercial use" of the name, because a) I'm calling for a boycott of his advertisers - a very well established political tactic that falls well within free speech bounds b) I solicit donations to support the site's operation (donations which have never come even close to covering the basic operational costs), and "sell" merchandise. Well: i. the links to the CafePress store are not working, and have not worked for months ii. I have never sold a single item of merchandise, nor have I sold a single book via Amazon - and even if I had, since no trademark infringement has occured, and the entire basis of their complaint is invalid, it is none of their damn business - CafePress has very strict anti-trademark violation provisions, and we were very careful to follow them. Here is what google returns when my site comes up as a result of searching for "savage nation": SavageStupidity.com - Where Michael Savage and "The Savage Nation ... ... critiquing, debunking, and otherwise combating and countering the influence of radical right wing talk show host Michael Savage and his Savage Nation followers ... Description: From a husband and wife team opposing the viewpoints of conservative radio talk show host Michael... Category: Society > Activism > Media www.savagestupidity.com/ - 2k - Cached - Similar pages How his lawyers can complain that this is "confusingly similar" or would lead any reasonable individual to believe that SavageStupidity.com is sponsored by Michael Savage is beyond me. The first two entries are: MichaelSavage.Com ... Bonaparte Benedict Arnett hired by Commie-Greek TV SABOTAGE "Only A More Savage Nation Can Survive." --- Michael Savage To Read More From 'The Savage Nation'. ... www.michaelsavage.com/ - 86k - Cached - Similar pages Amazon.com: Books: The Savage Nation: Saving America from the ... The Savage Nation: Saving America from the Liberal Assault on Our Borders, Language and Culture, Michael Savage. ... www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/ detail/-/0785263535?vi=glance - 68k - Cached - Similar pages aside from demonstrating that Michael Savage is utterly incompetent when it comes to promoting his own web site (there is no entry from "Open Directory" for it, and the text that shows up in Google doesn't clearly explain what the site is about), it seems pretty clear that a reasonable person would be able to distinguish the two. As I'm broke and unemployed, and it is my understanding that defending a domain name takes hundreds to thousands of dollars, I'd appreciate any support Politech folk can give me. I've never gone through this process, so advice on exactly what I need to do next would be much appreciated. Regards, Thomas Leavitt -- Thomas Leavitt, Sr. Systems Admin For Hire Resume at http://www.thomasleavitt.org/personal/resume/ Phone: 408-591-3342 / Email: thomasat_private / Fax: 815-371-2804 Wired since 1981. Internet-enabled since 1990. Web-enabled since 1993. Older, wiser, and poorer, post-crash. :) Join the System/Database/Network Administrators Job Search Community: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sdnadminjobs/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Riski" <DRiskiat_private> To: <info@arb-forum.com> Cc: <thomasleavittat_private>; <postmasterat_private>; <infoat_private> Sent: Friday, April 18, 2003 3:45 PM Subject: www.savagestupidity.com David J. Riski KANE, LADUZINSKY & MENDOZA, LTD. 225 W. Washington, Suite 1100 Chicago, IL 60606 Tel: (312) 726-0424 Fax: (312) 726-2425 Email: driskiat_private <mailto:driskiat_private> UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED OR OBVIOUS FROM THE NATURE OF THE TRANSMITTAL, THE INFORMATION IN THIS MESSAGE IS ATTORNEY PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION INTENDED FOR THE USE OF THE INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY NAMED ABOVE. IF THE READER OF THIS MESSAGE IS NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, OR THE EMPLOYEE OR AGENT RESPONSIBLE TO DELIVER IT TO THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT ANY DISSEMINATION, DISTRIBUTION OR COPYING OF THIS COMMUNICATION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS COMMUNICATION IN ERROR OR ARE NOT SURE WHETHER IT IS PRIVILEGED, PLEASE IMMEDIATELY NOTIFY ME BY TELEPHONE, AND RETURN THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE TO ME AT THE ABOVE ADDRESS. THANK YOU. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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