LYNCHBURG, Va. — An international arbiter of Internet domain names has ruled that a Web site satirizing Jerry Falwell and using his name without his permission can continue operating. The Geneva, Switzerland-based World Intellectual Property Organization denied Falwell’s complaint against Gary Cohn, who started the site, www.jerryfalwell.com, after hearing statements Falwell made about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Falwell claimed that he had a common-law trademark on his name, but a three-member panel ruled that the minister had failed to show that his name, “well known as it is, has been used in a trademark sense as a label of particular goods or services.
“The panel’s statement read, ‘There are many well-known ministers, religious figures and academics. Are their sermons or lectures to be considered commercial goods?’”
The panel’s decision also applies to another Web site that parodies Falwell, www.jerryfallwell.com.
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