Source: AP
(CAMDEN, N.J.) – A federal judge has ordered the operators of an Internet pornography site to stop using Teen magazine’s name in its Web address.
Magazine president Lynn Lehmkuhl said staff discovered the porn site last week and soon heard from puzzled girls. Teen, published since 1957, says the average age of its 2 million subscribers is 15.
The operator of the porn site, Blue Gravity Communications, and its owner, Thomas Krwawecz III, were temporarily restrained Thursday from using the magazine’s name by U.S. District Judge Joseph Irenas.
Teen’s lawsuit is among the first in the nation to rely on a new federal law banning “cybersquatting,” the practice of using company trademarks in Internet addresses in hopes of forcing the companies to buy the rights. The magazine seeks unspecified damages, including any profits the defendants made from using the name.
Irenas scheduled a hearing for next week on whether to impose an injunction against Blue Gravity. He ruled, however, that the magazine was likely to prevail because it would be irreparably injured if the site used the name.
Krwawecz said the address was dormant until it was sold Dec. 9 to a Florida company, Cyber Entertainment Network. He said Blue Gravity is still registered as owner of the address because of delays by the organization that registers the names, Network Solutions.
Cyber Entertainment Network’s chief executive, Joe Elkind, said he could not immediately determine if his company now owned the address. He said his company operates 14 adult Web sites, and about 3,000 other sites that lead to them.
The site that uses the magazine’s name was working Friday, and it took users to an X-rated site that is also reachable by another address. Attempts to disconnect from the site bounce users to other porn sites.
