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Members of Congress that took DeLay's Dirty Money:
Steven Latourette - has either given DeLay's money back or to a Katrina relief fund.
Chabot Prefers Torture Voting 'No' on Sen. McCain's ban on mistreatment of detainees in U.S. custody ? - click here
Judge Rules Web Site Critical of Hamilton County Republican Party Should Not Be Shut Down
Legal Defense Fund
Wrong Wing Outted
"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda," - Bush
Nov. 23, 2005
For Immediate Release:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Cincinnati court today denied a request from the Hamilton County Republican Party to shut
down a Web site critical of the party, accepting arguments made by Public Citizen.
The party on Nov. 18 requested that
the site be shut down because its domain name,
www.hamiltoncountyrepublicanparty.com,
is nearly identical to the domain name of the party’s Web site, www.hamiltoncountyrepublicanparty.org.
The party alleged that the site owner committed trademark infringement and is guilty of unfair competition.
In a hearing today in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, Judge Ralph E. Winkler denied the party’s motion to immediately order the site owner to refrain from using his Web site. In a memorandum of law filed to coincide with the hearing, Public Citizen, which is representing the site owner, argued that because the Web site is strongly critical of Republicans and several Republican judicial candidates, no reasonable viewer would confuse it with the Hamilton County Republican Party’s true Web site, and therefore there is no trademark infringement. The site owner was represented at the hearing by Cincinnati attorney Bruce Whitman.
In his brief, the site owner argued that the party’s motion for a
temporary restraining order should be denied because such an order would
constitute a prior restraint on political speech that would violate core First
Amendment principles, and because trademark law pertains only to commercial
speech made to promote a business.
Moreover, legal precedent has established that trademark law is not
implicated when a Web site is devoted to criticizing the holder of a trademark
and is unlikely to confuse viewers.
“The trademark laws were not
designed to prevent citizens from publicly criticizing a political party,” said
Public Citizen attorney Gregory Beck. “The party was attempting to shut down a
site just because it features uncomplimentary statements about it. However, the court recognized that shutting
down the site would have been a clear violation of the site owner's First Amendment
rights.”
A copy of Public Citizen’s memorandum is available at: Memorandum
Bruce Whitman’s web site is at: Whitman Law Office
Public
Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in
Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit
www.citizen.org.
Short of a gun to the head, a greater threat to First Amendment expression can scarcely be imagined. — Judge J. Nicholas Colabella (1992)
"They hope to distract people from the message by trying to discredit the messenger.” - Bill Moyers
Hamilton County Republican Party.com Grants Holiday Gift
The content that the hamilton county republican party of ohio found objectionable has been voluntarily removed until January 15, 2006.
Judge Winkler, in his closing remarks, commented "...the elections are over and the holidays are upon us and it's the time to spend with family and friends."
As such, HamiltonCountyRepublicanParty.com has extended a period of grace.
This is a voluntary Good Will, Holiday Season Gift !
The content contained unfavorable comments about judicial and party behavior during their bid for election. Judges make decisions everyday that effect individuals for the rest of their life. Now, the party and those same judges have a decision regarding their own. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone deserves a second chance. The party and the individuals involved know who they are and the representations that were made here about them.
The world wide web provides an opportunity for the citizen to somewhat combat the dollar influence in policy making and enforcement. Without this channel, HamiltonCountyRepublicanParty.com would not have been able to get the attention or voice it has received and ultimately rightfully defended.
The Right to Speech, makes this country great.
Once material is published on the web it is cached and there forever. In fact, if you are web savvy you can still get the content that was displayed.
Now, the hamilton county republican party has been put on Notice. The Citizen has a Voice and Eye on them !
The republican parties questionable activities can be published at the very location they have paid thousands of dollars attempting to suppress.
Without Public Citizen and special counsel, Bruce Whitman, the party may have been able to have their way in a republican based courthouse against a pro se defendant. A power Bully can, and Will, attack anybody regardless of legality. The party knew they had voluntarily abandoned this (.com) domain name. They declined the opportunity to register this (.com) domain when someone, other than the party, registered the (.org) extension. Not only do they feel they don't have to register the domain, but, a company in business to register domain names cannot engage in unrestricted trade unless their customers become the victum of litigation. So, who truly is engaging in unfair competition ?
Now, a citizen of their community has thousands of dollars in legal fees because they want to be a Bully. We think they should review our bill.
We just hope they don't ask the butler county central committee to handle things ?
Until January 15, 2006
You Be the Judge !
Time's Up
View Content Here !
While the Wrong Wing Failed to Censor this Site, Their Cronies are Suppressing Free Speech on Billboards
"The Internet is not an abridgement of the First Amendment, but an extension of it.”
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Independent Free Speech Website
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