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There has been a lower court ruling about a congressional candidate owning his own name.
A federal judge Thursday denied Republican congressional candidate Robin Ficker's claim on the domain name "robinficker.com," saying the Web site owner had a First Amendment right to use the candidate's name.
"By entering the public arena as a candidate for political office, (Ficker) has invited comments and critique, which operates in the spirit of healthy democracy of this country," U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. wrote in the four-page ruling.
I found this rather surprising; I would have thought the simple fact that it is, well, your name would have been a pretty strong legal argument towards this man winning his case. I think that if Mr. Tuohy (who owns the site and just happens to be a political consultant to Mr. Ficker's opponent) had a site called fickerisabadman.com, that would be fine. But buying someone else's name? That just seems wrong (as I head over to register my own name...).
Posted by Casper at March 3, 2004 12:34 PM