Here in Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Federal Court of Australia has ordered a NSW central coast blogger to shut down a number of salacious and pornographic websites because they featured Speedo swimming costumes and domain names using the company's trademark. Swim wear maker Speedo took the action to protect its brand.
Given Opposition Leader Abbott's proclivity for appearing in public dressed in nothing but his budgie smugglers, I suddenly had this strange and bizarre thought! Not a good start for a Friday morning.
Actually, I am glad that Speedo took action. I am quite sick of parasitic sites that skim material even from this site.
Postscript
I wrote this post as a quickie because the story caught my eye. Through the wonders of blogging, I do love those who make comments!, Marcellous said:
Jim,
The SMH report is misleading or at least only tells half the story. You can read the judgment here.
You can track down the blog with a little simple googling but it probably won't be to your taste.
It's basically a pornographic blog - it's not so particular about speedos in the brand name sense - it also likes pictures of "aussiebums" for example - but mostly it's about when the speedos come off in a kind of fantasy-land of sand and surf and sex, and it is probably really a marketing gateway for pay-sites that lie just a few clicks further in.
The respondent is a chimera, or at least and most a pseudonym. So-called "Dave Evans" claimed he couldn't go to court because he was closeted and would have to out himself if he attended. That's a rather good joke.
Actually whoever is responsible for the blog is clearly an "adult industry" professional.
As far as I can make out, Speedo's lawyers haven't managed to track down the author of the blog in person. He (could even be a she) has communicated by email and presumably was served that way. However, I don't think it is really right to say that the site is in any way parasitic. It really does reference "Speedo" as a generic term. You know, as in "she was doing the hoovering."
The blog is still up although it will probably come down in a little while. There is some hint on the site that it will fold of its own volition (after all that free publicity, such a shame). Otherwise I think it might be quite cumbersome to get a US web-domain recognize orders of an Australian court which empower the Registrar to sign the relevant documents etc.
Speedo are also claiming damages. I'm still trying to work out what they will be.
My guess is that Speedo is sick of searches on the web for "Speedo" leading to a very not-safe-for-work site. And it's true, they do have to protect their trademark.
M's comment suggests that there are more to this case than meets the eye, so to speak. You see, I couldn't resist continuing the theme!
Seriously, the judgement (link in M's comment) is worth while reading. To my mind. it raises some interesting legal issues.
4 comments:
Hi Jim
Just thought I'd steal Neil Whitfield's approach, and state that it is now some 15 days and 12 hours since I last looked at The Australian website.
Which is nothing to do with your present post, but worth noting in light of a few of your prior ones.
kvd
ps I still smoke, but am now much less confused ;)
Jim,
The SMH report is misleading or at least only tells half the story.
You can read the judgment here
You can track down the blog with a little simple googling but it probably won't be to your taste.
It's basically a pornographic blog - it's not so particular about speedos in the brand name sense - it also likes pictures of "aussiebums" for example - but mostly it's about when the speedos come off in a kind of fantasy-land of sand and surf and sex, and it is probably really a marketing gateway for pay-sites that lie just a few clicks further in.
The respondent is a chimera, or at least and most a pseudonym. So-called "Dave Evans" claimed he couldn't go to court because he was closeted and would have to out himself if he attended. That's a rather good joke. Actually whoever is responsible for the blog is clearly an "adult industry" professional.
As far as I can make out, Speedo's lawyers haven't managed to track down the author of the blog in person. He (could even be a she) has communicated by email and presumably was served that way.
However, I don't think it is really right to say that the site is in any way parasitic. It really does reference "Speedo" as a generic term. You know, as in "she was doing the hoovering."
The blog is still up although it will probably come down in a little while. There is some hint on the site that it will fold of its own volition (after all that free publicity, such a shame). Otherwise I think it might be quite cumbersome to get a US web-domain recognize orders of an Australian court which empower the Registrar to sign the relevant documents etc.
Speedo are also claiming damages. I'm still trying to work out what they will be.
My guess is that Speedo is sick of searches on the web for "Speedo" leading to a very not-safe-for-work site. And it's true, they do have to protect their trademark.
kvd, glad to see that you are less confused!
Marcellous, thank you very much for the link. Quite interesting reading. I just wrote the post as a quickie. I will add your link.
However, Jim, my response was a quickie too because it isn't the blog which Speedo are closing down, just the actual websites which include the word speedo in their name, and in fact lead rather more directly to pay pornography.
However, it is still true that these sites do reference speedo as a term for relatively diaphanous male swimming costumes of the "Speedo" style.
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