Trademarks Trumped by Freedom of Speech

Click here to read the decision of the National Arbitration Forum in Homer TLC, Inc. v. GreenPeople, Claim Number: FA0508000550345, dated 10/25/05, wherein the panel found that respondent’s use of the domain name “homedepotsucks.com” did not violate the Home Depot marks of the complainant.

Internet Addiction

DAXING, China – Sun Jiting spends his days locked behind metal bars in this military-run installation, put there by his parents. The 17-year-old high school student is not allowed to communicate with friends back home, and his only companions are psychologists, nurses and other patients. Each morning at 6:30, he is jolted awake by a soldier in fatigues shouting, “This is for your own good!” Sun’s offense: Internet addiction.

FL Scalping Law Repealed

In the summer of 2006, FL Gov. Jeb Bush (R) signed legislation that replaced the Sunshine State’s 60-year-old ticket scalping law, which forbade selling tickets for more than $1 above the face value, with an open-market system that allows ticket owners and Internet brokers to sell tickets at whatever price they can get. The law went into effect Oct. 1 (MIAMI HERALD).