Response filed in Glenn Beck domain dispute.
Most UDRP domain dispute proceedings make for dry reading. But when someone who has created a bitingly satirical web site works with his lawyer to put pen to the paper, the end result can be quite amusing.
Such is the case in Glenn Beck’s fight for the domain name glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com.
If you haven’t read about this case yet, the domain owner created the web site because of an internet meme around Beck. Beck has been known to make allegations against his opponents, and then tell his opponents that they need to prove the allegations false. This meme is just that — making a silly allegation against Beck and telling him that it’s his responsibility to defend himself.
But Beck turned to the international organization WIPO to try to get the domain name back. As the respondent points out, this is contrary to Beck’s stated belief that U.S. law supersedes international law.
Is the domain confusingly similar? Not unless someone who sees the domain name would expect it to be owned by Glenn Beck.
In the response, available here (pdf), the domain’s owner takes time to point out Beck’s hypocrisy and take jibes at his audience. Here are some of the more amusing parts:
Only an abject imbecile could believe that the domain name would have any connection to the Complainant.
We are not here because the domain name could cause confusion. We do not have a declaration from the president of the international association of imbeciles that his members are blankly staring at the Respondent’s website wondering “where did all the race baiting content go?†We are here because Mr. Beck wants Respondent’s website shut down. He wants it shut down because Respondent’s website makes a
poignant and accurate satirical critique of Mr. Beck by parodying Beck’s very rhetorical style. Beck’s skin is too thin to take the criticism, so he wants the site down……It is specious at best for Mr. Beck to assert that his fans, or the public as a whole, would confuse Respondent’s website with Mr. Beck himself—unless of course it is Mr. Beck’s view that his fans and the average internet user are in fact hurried morons. Respondent presumes that this is not how Mr.
Beck regards his audience. And, even if he does so regard his audience, this is not a basis for upholding his complaint.
Stuart says
clap clap clap.
glenn beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990 says
Excellent response…
David J Castello says
Interesting that Mr Beck has not gone after Glenn-Beck-Sucks.com.
John Martel says
It will be interesting to see what happens in this case. I got to hand it to the the domain owner and the lawyer, that’s a great response!
Elliot says
One of the best UDRP responses I’ve seen. Nice work, Marc and good reporting, Andrew.
Andrew Allemann says
Elliot – do you think Berryhill is jealous of this response? Let’s see if he pipes in with a witty comment 🙂
Aron says
I understand free speech but
isn’t there a line that’s crossed when you print/publish outright slanderous lies?
Like him or not, doesn’t this cross the line?
To me, it’s not an opinion page like GlennBeckSucks (or whatever) but this is
kinda… i dunno… morbid.
Andrew Allemann says
Aron – yeah, but you have to understand the meme and how it got started. If this crosses the line, don’t read a copy of The Onion 🙂
David J Castello says
Another great article about it here. The best thing to do with a meme is to completely ignore it (like Richard Gere has done for years with those dopey gerbil rumors). Beck made a multiple blunder here because the more you read about this the more you realize the meme has a great satirical point: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/memes-strike-back-gerbils-gay-blood-elves-and-glenn-beck.ars
Aron says
Andrew,
I understand 🙂
I would just have picked something less
“stomach turning” for a domain name.
I don’t think that’s a topic worth joking about.
If the site was: GlennBeckSoldBombstoRussia
or
GlennBeckStartedtheSwineFlu
that would be different.
Anyways. Just my 2 pennies 🙂
Kevin M. says
**clap clap clap.**
..ditto, and a ‘big’ Wooo-whooo!
Darren Spielman says
Tip of the hat to Marc. His tone and style of writing really comes out in that Response.
Valerie Booth says
I would have never had the [insert-body-part-here] to register and use that name. I get the meme; I just think this is a bit over-the-top.
But I also think a UDRP is the wrong venue for this fight. If Beck were smart, he’d hire the domain owner. That’s the funniest thing I’ve read in awhile!
Thanks Andrew!
David J Castello says
Glenn Beck’s Lawyer: Um, Mr Beck – did you happen to see this web site?
GB: Web site? Another Tea Party Fan Club that wants me to speak? NO? OK, let me see it… WTF IS THIS?!?!
Glenn Beck’s Lawyer: Don’t know. It’s probably some dopey kid in his Liberal college dorm somewhere. What should we do?
GB: TAKE IT AWAY! HOW DARE HE DO THIS TO ME!
Glenn Beck’s Lawyer: Well, that may not be possible under our First Amendment. It’s obviously a satirical site.
GB: Satirical site? What does that mean? Are you saying he can do this to ME?!
Glenn Beck’s Lawyer: Well, yes.
GB: I…I can’t believe this! Where’s the key to my cabinet!
Glenn Beck’s Lawyer: Mr. Beck… NO… please… don’t… stop fighting… give me that bottle right now…
GB: OK, I’m sorry. Thank you. I had a moment. What if we go overseas? Keep this hush-hush?
Glenn Beck’s Lawyer: Could work. However, you’re taking a chance if this gets out in the press. Could backfire. Especially if he gets a Libertarian or, God forbid, a Liberal attorney involved.
GB: I’m not worried. That’s not going to happen. No way this kid can afford an attorney. And, furthermore, what attorney would even care to handle this?
http://bostonist.com/2009/10/01/today_in_randazzas_zings_glenn_beck.php
jblack says
Yeah, hilarious interview! In fact, it would be just as funny to substitute Obama for Beck, Acorn for Tea Party, and Conservative for Liberal! Man, that would be funny! Hilarious! No?! Then those stuffed shirts have no sense of humor!
Andrew Allemann says
I’m with David…it’s nothing political
Free Domain Newsletter says
BarakObamaRapedandMurderedaYoungGirlin1990.com
That would cause the secret service to investigate and hundreds of bloggers to lament on the direction our country has gone.
Hypocritical… just maybe=)
Troy
David J Castello says
jblack:
Conservative or Liberal doesn’t matter. Anyone who tries to take away someone else’s domain name, especially with this reason and strategy, is the bad guy.
jblack says
Yep, not political at all, just humor and satire. Like Hitler mustaches, etc. Just have a good laugh at the harmlessness of all of it.
Andrew Allemann says
jblack – I fail to see a comparison
Henry says
Andrew, he doesn’t need one. Interjections like that are devoid of sound reasoning. But it does make one thing clear though. You can tell a lot by the way someone reasons. More often than not, it points to how they may behave in their business dealings with anyone.
Prejudice is a powerful phenomenon and so is self absorption. They both can cloud one’s judgement.
Name Withheld says
As the domain owner and site operator, I just wanted to clarify that the amazing wit in the response is 100% from my lawyer, Marc Randazza, who I think is an absolute genius.
I just wanted to clarify, because he’s just that great. 🙂 And if you haven’t seen the stipulation letter — I’ve got links up on gb1990.com (which is the short domain parked on the site)…
Thanks for posting a great article. 🙂
Take care,
-Name Withheld
Stuart says
Whether it is politically driven is irrelevant. Beck perpetually asks people to prove a claim is not false – the “you are guilty until proven innocent” routine. That’s not the way the system works here. He might be a nice guy if he wasnt such a fear-monger and actually offered reasonable solutions rather than shooting people down all the time.
I think his biggest problem is his religion. He uses it as a vehicle to claim the moral high ground, as if the two were synonymous.
jblack says
Ah, congratulating and extolling the new use of domain names, libel. Lies of rape and murder in domain name titles. Man, that is hysterical stuff. Something to be truly proud of, something for kids to aspire to and show their mothers.
Hey, its all “fun”, “satire”, and “just humor”. Everyone needs to “just get over it”. Got it. And you guys seriously wonder why the public sees domain registrants as pond scum and get surprised when lawsuits and UDRPs are filed?
Name withheld also says
Isaac Eiland-Hall again brags about the site without posting his name. At least stand behind your work, man.
Name Withheld says
“Isaac Eiland-Hall again brags about the site without posting his name. At least stand behind your work, man.”
By quoting my name, you’ve shown it’s not difficult to find; whereas I’m on the forum and site as Name Withheld. I assume you’ve heard of a “nickname”. Also, the irony of refraining from posting *your* name doesn’t escape me. 🙂
Phil says
Great response! I’m very interested to hear the specific ruling on this because of the precedence it could create.
Eric Borgos says
I have been in business for 15 years and I don’t have a lawyer, so I am interested to see how WIPO responds to non-traditional response like this. It seems to me glenn Beck should lose the UDRP case, but would have a good chance of winning a real lawsuit.
I am not a Glenn Beck fan at all, but I do think Glenn Beck should be able to legally take down this domain since it is too offensive.
Clay says
Too offensive? It’s an obvious parody site ripping into Beck because of the alleged damage Beck does to political speech.
Notice the key words “parody” and “political speech”? Either of those things would make it very difficult to overcome first-amendment concerns.
I am not a lawyer, but come on, be serious — the murky rules of UDRP seem a much more plausible route.
Eric Borgos says
It is not an obvious parody at all. I don’t know much about Glenn Beck, other than seeing him clips of his show on various other shows, but if I had to guess I would assume glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com was created by the parents of a murder victim who thought he did it. Yes, I would assume he did not really do it, since he is not in jail, but maybe he somehow helped cause her death. The point is many many people will never go the actual site (I still have not gone there), they will just see the domain, and make bad assumptions. It is one thing to have a domain like GlennBeckIsStupid.com or GlennBeckisAnAsshole.com, because those are just bad words and opinions. The glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.comimplies a fact, or at least his involvement in a murder, which is much more serious.
Clay says
In order for this particular parody to work, it has to make a specific accusation of some sort, as that is what Glenn Beck is accused of doing.
That said, I think a reasonable person should look at a website before deciding that some random website domain has any particular meaning at all.
I mean, someone could also link to an article with the title, of oh, “Bush ‘Refuses To Dignify’ Mass-Murder Allegations” “concerning his alleged involvement in a 1984 Brownsville, TX, mass murder, in which 17 people were ritualistically murdered and skinned.”
I know this is a parody because it’s from theonion.com. If someone has no idea what The Onion is, they might not understand it’s a parody, and by your reasoning might think that President Bush murdered 17 people in 1984.
John Berryhill says
“Hypocritical… just maybe=)”
There is no shortage of websites accusing the president of crimes. See, e.g. obamacrimes.com, which is one of a number of sites “proving” he was not born in Hawaii.
It’s a wonderful response. The operative question is whether the domain name would be confusingly similar to the alleged mark (leaving aside the question of whether it is a mark).
Failing to win the UDRP, Beck’s next move, if any, is the more interesting question.
Eric Borgos says
The issue is not whether the glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com website is legal, the issue is the legality of domain itself. The Obamacrimes.com domain by itself is not “bad” like the glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com domai is.
2sayf says
Considering all of the evidence http://wp.me/sBfFK-beckrape -it would be wrong for us concerned citizens not to ask the tough questions.
If he was innocent Beck should’ve address the allegations by now, instead of covering them up http://wp.me/pBfFK-94
Look, if there wasn’t one shred of truth in the allegations then how do you explain Sean Hannity trying to distance himself from Beck by actually leaking photos of himself carousing with hookers at a brothel in Vegas? http://wp.me/pBfFK-bI