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Yale Law 2017
A teacher called a 14 year old student an “ugly brat.” Now she wants $75,000. Source. Anyone else want to call her an ugly brat? Get in line.
Capt. Alfred Decker – Asshat of the Week
While Tropical Storm Edouard was bearing down on Texas, a woman in a Wal-Mart in La Marque, TX had the audacity to use the word “fuck” while speaking with her mother. (Telling her that there were no more batteries). “I looked at my mom and said, ‘They’re all —-ing gone,” Fridge recalled. Suddenly, Capt. Alfred Decker, the La Marque assistant fire marshal, appeared from around the corner, dressed in a fire department uniform. “He said, ‘You need to watch your mouth,’ ” Fridge said. Perplexed by who the man was — his badge said “fire department” — Fridge offered a
Google's "Chrome" Browser? No Thanks
Quizlaw has a compelling argument why bloggers should ditch the evil one’s new browser.
Cyber-protestor Shut Down by UDRP Panel
The Acroplex Blog reports on The shameful WIPO case of Aspis.com. Aspis is a registered trademark of a Swedish company. However, it is also refers to Aspis Pronoia, a Greek insurance company. Interestingly enough, the Swedish Aspis is the successor in interest to the Greek company. Back in 1998, Aspis Pronoia ticked off Mr. Dimitri Kukurinis, and he registered aspis.com to vent his frustration with the company. The Swedish successor corporation filed a UDRP action. See Aspis Liv Försäkrings AB v. Neon Network, LLC, Case No. D2008-0387. The panel found that: Mr. Kukurinis [the registrant] is a resident of New
Penis Pumps Pwned! Uncle Sam Saves Us From Penis-Enlargement Scams – Provokes Possible Trade War With Sweden
Last week, the guy behind the Enzyte scam got 25 years in prison for selling placebo pills to guys with small penises. This week, the Food and Drug Administration issued an “Import Alert” recommending that penis enlargement hardware should not be allowed to be imported into the United States. See Import Alert #78-01 is titled “”DETENTION WITHOUT PHYSICAL EXAMINATION OF PENIS ENLARGERS AND ERECTION MAINTAINING RINGS”. In this Import Alert, the FDA gives us a comprehensive list of what it considers to be a “penis enlarger and erection maintaining ring.” 1. Mechanical stretching devices. Those employing weights, or lines tied
Western Pennsylvania Town Clings to Guns & Religion – Sexytime, Not So Much
Stephanie Babines tried to open a womens’ pole-dancing studio in Adams Township, Pennsylvania. Her website is located here. The thought that local women would be gyrating like the Salem witches, with Ms. Babines playing the part of Tituba, was just too much for the code enforcement overlords in one of those parts of Pennsylvania where they cling to guns and religion. They denied Babines her permit to operate the business on the grounds that it was an unlawfully located “sexually oriented business.” (See pages 11-12 for the Adams Township code definition of that term) The township’s code enforcement officer, Gary
Wrong "Barbie": Mattel Lives up to its Doll's Airhead Image – Cybersquatter No Nobel Prize Winner Either
Mattel recently went after domainer Konstantinos Zournas in order to seize the barbitwins.com domain name. See Mattel, Inc. v. Konstantinos Zournas, NAF Claim Number 1203398 (Aug. 8, 2008). Mattel claimed that the “barbi” portion of “barbitwins.com” was confusingly similar to their registered BARBIE trademark. In their complaint, Mattel said that Mr. Zournas made no legitimate use of the domain name, and that it was merely a Pay-Per-Click page directing traffic to porn sites. Mattel also claimed that Mr. Zournas registered and used barbitwins.com “with the intent to trade on the goodwill Complainant has earned in its BARBIE products, and to
Stupid Flunkie Never Read Cohen v. California
On April 26, 1968, Paul Cohen walked into the Los Angeles County Courthouse wearing a jacket emblazoned with the words “Fuck the Draft.” He was arrested, Mel Nimmer took his case all the way to the Supreme Court, where the decision was reversed as Cohen’s jacket constituted First Amendment protected expression. See Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971) (“one man’s vulgarity is another’s lyric”). In 2008, Lapriss Gilbert was ejected from the Social Security office in Los Angeles for wearing a t-shirt that said “lesbian.com”. Apparently the flunkie dipshit who worked for Paragon Security Company has never read that
Wisconsin Woman Files Suit Over Linking Threats
Jennifer Reisinger says the Sheboygan city attorney ordered her to remove from her Web site a link to the city’s police department, in what she believes was retaliation for her support of recalling Mayor Juan Perez, according to the suit filed last week. (source) Her reaction, file a federal lawsuit against the City of Sheboygan. Not wasting my PACER pennies on this one. The funniest part, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel headline for the story: Sheboygan women files landmark case over Web links Hat Tips to Quizlaw and Trademark Blog
Equifax Loses UDRP Decision for EFX.com
Equifax uses EFX as its stock ticker symbol. On that basis, it filed a UDRP action against Future Media Architects over the domain name EFX.com. See Equifax Inc. v. Future Media Architects Inc., NAF Claim Number 1195133 (Jul. 23, 2008). Equifax was not successful, but this decision gives some guidance to parties whose “trademark” rights may be less than a traditional brand name, but are still worthy of protection. Three-letter domain decisions are hard to win. There are often a multitude of plausible explanations as to why the Respondent registered the domain name in good faith, even if the Respondent
Belly Bumpin' Don't Never Lead to No Good!
Livin’ in Flori-duh means never having to make something up when you wanna tell a funny story. Two former mayors of Oak Hill, Flori-duh got into a little altercation in the City Hall parking lot on Tuesday night. Well, one thing led t’nother, and the two started “belly bumping.” As y’all know, belly bumpin’ turns to fisticuffs and the resultin’ tomfoolery landed both of them in the hospital with high blood pressure, heart pains, and one of them with some missing teeth. The out-of-shape combatants were City Commissioner Mike Thompson and fellow former mayor/commissioner Jeff Bracy. Both are reported to
UDRP Complainant is "Sorely Misguided"
In World2Work Corporation v Kurt Reuss, NAF Case No. 1214404 (Aug. 18, 2008), Panelist Darryl Wilson lived up to his rapidly-growing reputation as a no-nonsense arbitrator. The domain at issue in that case was fired.com. The complainant held a trademark registration for FIRED, but did not seem to understand that trademarks are not “word patents.” While it is not normally required that the issue of genericness be resolved in the UDRP proceeding, especially when Complainant is the owner of a valid registration, it is important to address the issue when the mark and the domain consist of one or more
Religion, Free Speech No Defense to Refusing to Knock Up Lesbians
By Jessica Christensen, Legal Satyricon Employment Law Correspondent Guadalupe Benitez and Joanne Clark, a lesbian couple in a long term relationship, wanted to have a baby. After unsuccessful attempts at self-insemination using sperm bank material, the couple was referred to the North Coast Women’s Medical Center, Inc. (North Coast) for fertility treatment. Their doctor advised them that while she was happy to treat Ms. Benitez for fertility problems, her religion prevented her from assisting Benitez with artificial insemination because Benitez is a lesbian. The same religious objection was later re-asserted by another doctor at North Coast (the doctors later contended
Federal Government Doesn’t Want Transgendered Employee to Help Fight War on Terror
By Jessica Christensen, Legal Satyricon Employment Law Correspondent Trial concluded this morning in Shroer v. Billington (Library of Congress), a case that considers whether or not a transgendered job applicant is covered by federal antidiscrimination laws. After more than 25 years as an Airborne Ranger with Special Forces training, after having served in combat operations in Panama, Haiti and Rwanda, and after having spent years advising top U.S. officials – including Vice-President Cheney – regarding terrorism issues, David Schroer was denied a terrorism specialist position with the Library of Congress because he had decided to finally make the change and
Adult Business Prevails in Springfield, MA
Massachusetts superior court rules that video booths may have First Amendment protection and that an adult video store’s successful measures to cure prior secondary effects should be taken into account when considering a city’s denial of a license renewal. Additionally, the City argued that the public interest would be harmed by allowing the video booths to remain open, as they contributed to the transmission of HIV (a frequent claim by anti-erotica activists). The court noted that since there was no sexual contact between patrons, and they could only observe one another through glass windows, this argument was unpersuasive. See Capital
Now they tell us….
Diebold finally admits that its voting machines are pieces of shit. Great timing, guys. Update: A commenter provided this brilliant link.
Nassau County, Florida Seeks to Ban Porn Sales
The Fernandina Beach News Leader reports: Nassau County Commissioners considered an ordinance banning the sale of pornography during their meeting Wednesday. County Attorney David Hallman presented a draft ordinance to the board, but he and Commissioners Mike Boyle and Barry Holloway expressed concerns that the ordinance, if adopted in its present form, could expose the county to legal challenges. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you that you’d be out at the edge if you adopt this,” Hallman said. (source)
Conventions Mean $$$ For the Sex Trade
See ABC News, Sex Trade Spikes During Conventions.
Memphis Police Director Targets Anonymous Bloggers
By Sam Lea, Legal Satyricon Correspondent Memphis Police Director Billy Godwin has filed a lawsuit aimed at discovering the identification of the persons behind a Blog that is particularly critical of the Director as well as the Memphis PD (source ). The Blog is known as MPD Enforcer 2.0, which has become a popular place for Memphis Police Officers to anonymously vent their frustrations with the Department and its leadership. Most of the documents associated with the case have been sealed by the court, so it is unclear if the objective of the suit is to simply identify “leaks” in
Making the Wine
My little sister just published this piece in Yankee Magazine about my family’s annual wine-making party. My sister is so freakin’ cool.