Federal judge dismisses anti-Mormon group suit

Salt Lake Tribune article

U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball ruled that a Web site set up purportedly
for The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR) was a parody and visitors could recognize immediately that it did not belong to Utah Lighthouse Ministry, a Salt Lake City-based organization that is critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The FAIR Web site could be reached through 10 domain names - including utahlighthouse.com and utahlighthouse.org - and responded to criticisms of the church.
Lighthouse Ministry founders Jerald and Sandra Tanner, former members and longtime critics of the LDS Church, said in their 2005 suit that 13 domain names associated with their organization had been registered by a FAIR associate.

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© source where applicable

Judge Kimball (I wonder if he is any relation to Spencer W. Kimball past prophet of the LDS church) got his degree from Brigham Young University.

I wonder if he should have excused himself as having an unfair bias in this case?

Originally posted by Leroy

Federal judge dismisses anti-Mormon group suit

Salt Lake Tribune article

U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball ruled that a Web site set up purportedly
for The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR) was a parody and visitors could recognize immediately that it did not belong to Utah Lighthouse Ministry, a Salt Lake City-based organization that is critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The FAIR Web site could be reached through 10 domain names - including utahlighthouse.com and utahlighthouse.org - and responded to criticisms of the church.
Lighthouse Ministry founders Jerald and Sandra Tanner, former members and longtime critics of the LDS Church, said in their 2005 suit that 13 domain names associated with their organization had been registered by a FAIR associate.

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© source where applicable

Judge Kimball (I wonder if he is any relation to Spencer W. Kimball past prophet of the LDS church) got his degree from Brigham Young University.

I wonder if he should have excused himself as having an unfair bias in this case?

No, I don't think he should have. You can see what Wyatt, and several other people associated with FAIR, have to say on the case over at the old FAIR message boards (now the Mormon Apologetics message board).

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Leroy,

I have to agree with the judge here. This is a basic freedom of speech issue. It'd have a chilling effect on our society if the judge ruled the other way, and you could basically kiss all forms of parody goodbye. (Remember those controversial Mohammed cartoons? With a ruling like that they would have never made the papers legally)

As for the BYU degree, BYU is a very good college. I might despise it because of some of its rather, erm, stupid policies (and those are the reason I refuse to attend it, but then again I won't attend the U either - I'm picky about the type of enviroment I'm in), but I can't argue with its credentials

Originally posted by Dee Dee Neo

Leroy,

I have to agree with the judge here. This is a basic freedom of speech issue. It'd have a chilling effect on our society if the judge ruled the other way, and you could basically kiss all forms of parody goodbye. (Remember those controversial Mohammed cartoons? With a ruling like that they would have never made the papers legally)

At least your consistent (referring to your comment about the Mormon Angel use in the coffee shop logo) but this has nothing to do with parody, this is a blatant attempt to misguide people into thinking they are going to the Garald & Sandra site , by using 10 or 15 domain names that are very similar and using a web designed site that looked very similar to The Lighthouse Ministries. And I don't buy the reason for not calling it cybersquatting is only because it wasn't "commerce" related.

Originally posted by Dee Dee Neo

As for the BYU degree, BYU is a very good college. I might despise it because of some of its rather, erm, stupid policies (and those are the reason I refuse to attend it, but then again I won't attend the U either - I'm picky about the type of enviroment I'm in), but I can't argue with its credentials

I didn't post that bit about going to BYU to imply that he was improperly educated, more to the fact that of his possible bias.

Believe me, I'm all for free speech, but it should swing both ways, if this was in the Bible belt and a christian group was accused of this type of cybersquatting on a mormon site I would be just as concerned if the courts ruled that in favor of the christians.

[quote=Leroy;1909643]At least your consistent (referring to your comment about the Mormon Angel use in the coffee shop logo) but this has nothing to do with parody, this is a blatant attempt to misguide people into thinking they are going to the Garald & Sandra site , by using 10 or 15 domain names that are very similar and using a web designed site that looked very similar to The Lighthouse Ministries. And I don't buy the reason for not calling it cybersquatting is only because it wasn't "commerce" related.
quote]

What is important to note is that the URLs to those sites where offered to the Tanners. So as soon as they gave up the websites, the issue was effectively resolved. I will also say that that a few years ago I went to an LDS site but instead of typing in org I accidently typed in com and what did I get? I got an anti-LDS website. WHen I wrote to them about it, they completely justified their actions. Cybersquatting is common. Heck just type in www.bookofmormon.com and what do you get. You get http://www.utlm.org/index.htm which is Mrs Tanner's site. Now why is Mrs. Tanner squatting on that URL?

Originally posted by Leroy

At least your consistent (referring to your comment about the Mormon Angel use in the coffee shop logo) but this has nothing to do with parody, this is a blatant attempt to misguide people into thinking they are going to the Garald & Sandra site , by using 10 or 15 domain names that are very similar and using a web designed site that looked very similar to The Lighthouse Ministries. And I don't buy the reason for not calling it cybersquatting is only because it wasn't "commerce" related.

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

I demand consistency from others in how they deal with others, I would be a hypocrit if I did not do so myself. It is a rare day when I will vote for an inconsistent politican over a consistent one, even if I disagree with the consistent one on most issues.

Christ carried a similar position. Who did he condemn the most? Inconsistent Hypocrits. I believe this is why the 'lukewarm' are 'spit out'.

</end preaching about consistency>

That being said, I can sympathize with you from a moral perspective, but NOT from a legal perspective. Could you provide some of the URLs in question?

Originally posted by master_mormon

What is important to note is that the URLs to those sites where offered to the Tanners. So as soon as they gave up the websites, the issue was effectively resolved. I will also say that that a few years ago I went to an LDS site but instead of typing in org I accidently typed in com and what did I get? I got an anti-LDS website. WHen I wrote to them about it, they completely justified their actions. Cybersquatting is common. Heck just type in www.bookofmormon.com and what do you get. You get http://www.utlm.org/index.htm which is Mrs Tanner's site. Now why is Mrs. Tanner squatting on that URL?

I think master_mormon has hit the nail with this one, however I would first check the registrar's entries to see if Ms. Tanner did indeed register that site - it is possible that an overzealous Christian (or heck, simply someone opposed to the LDS Church) registered it and had it point to the UTLM site.

Originally posted by master_mormon

What is important to note is that the URLs to those sites where offered to the Tanners. So as soon as they gave up the websites, the issue was effectively resolved. I will also say that that a few years ago I went to an LDS site but instead of typing in org I accidently typed in com and what did I get? I got an anti-LDS website. WHen I wrote to them about it, they completely justified their actions. Cybersquatting is common.

You have a good point and I admit I come from less then an well educated position as far a cybersquatting is concerned.

Originally posted by master_mormon

Heck just type in www.bookofmormon.com and what do you get. You get http://www.utlm.org/index.htm which is Mrs Tanner's site. Now why is Mrs. Tanner squatting on that URL?

I do believe there is a difference between a site with a so generically named as bookofmormon or christianbible and I more specifically named site like utlm

Originally posted by Dee Dee Neo

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

I demand consistency from others in how they deal with others, I would be a hypocrit if I did not do so myself. It is a rare day when I will vote for an inconsistent politican over a consistent one, even if I disagree with the consistent one on most issues.

Christ carried a similar position. Who did he condemn the most? Inconsistent Hypocrits. I believe this is why the 'lukewarm' are 'spit out'.

</end preaching about consistency>

That being said, I can sympathize with you from a moral perspective, but NOT from a legal perspective. Could you provide some of the URLs in question?

As far as the URLs go, I was just quoting the article, I have no list of URLs, they weren't included in the article.

Originally posted by Dee Dee Neo

I think master_mormon has hit the nail with this one, however I would first check the registrar's entries to see if Ms. Tanner did indeed register that site - it is possible that an overzealous Christian (or heck, simply someone opposed to the LDS Church) registered it and had it point to the UTLM site.

I think both you and master_mormon have good points, thanks.