Domain names are a thing of much confusion. Microsoft has spent years chasing down people using similiar names to theirs to confuse people (supposedly). In the latest big case on domain name similarity, the owner of Fallwell.com (two letter “l’s” in both places) is permitted to keep his website up and running to the displeasure of Falwell.com (one “l” in the first instance). The reason was simple according to the United State Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit panel: Fallwell.com is clearly adverse to and not easily confused with Falwell.com because of the clear disclaimer of non-affiliation and because the content is actually critical of the latter’s site.

This article was posted on Friday, August 26th, 2005 at 12:14 pm