What an asshole!! I'm glad I haven't bought any of his music. I sure won't be buying any in the future.
"LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Country singer Keith Urban has filed a lawsuit against a painter of the same name, claiming that the lesser known Keith Urban's Web site infringes trademark and cyber-squatting laws.
Singer Urban filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday against the New Jersey painter who uses the Web site address www.keithurban.com to advertise oil paintings for sale.
The entertainer, who married Nicole Kidman last year and who recently ended a stint in rehab for alcohol abuse, says in the lawsuit that the Web site is being used "in a manner likely to deceive the public into believing that the website has a connection to Plaintiff that does not exist."
Urban's own Web site address is www.keithurban.net.
The singer, 39, wants the other Web site to be shut down and its domain name transferred to his ownership. He also seeks unspecified monetary damages.
The New Jersey painter could not be reached for comment."
Singer Keith Urban sues Keith Urban over Web site
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12 hours ago
Um ... that's not how the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act works.
ReplyDeleteIn law school I had the tremendous opportunity to be taught by one of the leading scholars in this new cyberlaw area in my law school's newly formed Intellectual Property Program. We studied that Act and it is meant to protect someone who is being exploited by someone who is using the name for no legitimate purpose other than to extort money from the rightful owner of a trademark or to dilute the trademark (see Panavision v. Toeppen).
In this case you can't trademark your own name (ask Rosa Parks about that one) and the guy who is using the site is using it under his own name as well. Unless the dude is trying to deliberately confuse people into thinking he has some affiliation with the singer Keith Urban then he has no case (see the "Jews for Jesus" cases).
In any event, yeah ... it's a jerkish move that is meant to intimidate through the sheer weight of litigation hoping the guy will cave under the pressure of an army of lawyers and pleadings. We talked about an example that is similar except for lacking a commercial aspect. If two kids established a fan page to Sammy Sosa at www.sammysosa.com the Anticybersquatting act would not allow Sosa to reclaim the name because the use of the site is non-commercial ... but if he sued them anyway you know that their parents would cave rather than fight it.
Yep ... jerkish behavior.