Something Else for Glenn to Cry About

Towards the end of September, Murphy wrote about Glenn Beck filing a complaint with WIPO over a contested domain name that he claimed violated his trademark in his own name. The website, didglennbeckrapeandmurderayounggirlin1990.com, was conceived as a satire of Beck's own proclivity for inventing outrageous and baseless accusations and confronting the target with said accusations, thereby forcing someone to explain or defend against purely fictional claims. For instance, "There are people out there who claim that Murphy is a communist. Now, let's be clear, I'm not saying that Murphy is a communist. However, if Murphy has nothing to hide, why doesn't she just come out with the information to prove that she is not a communist and put this whole thing to rest?" For a real world analogy, see the Birther "movement".

Thankfully, we can chalk up a victory for the forces of good, and revel in a defeat for the forces of nutbaggery. The WIPO arbitration panel decided (.pdf) in favor of the respondent noting:

"Respondent appears to the Panel to be engaged in a parody of the style or methodology that Respondent appears genuinely to believe is employed by Complainant in the provision of political commentary, and for that reason Respondent can be said to be making a political statement. This constitutes a legitimate non-commercial use of Complainant's mark under the Policy."

Following announcement of the victory Isaac Eiland-Hall, respondent and domain-owner, issued a letter to Beck, ceding control of the domain and admonishing Beck for his hatred of Constitutional liberties.