NRA complaint takes down Surge's 38,000 websites

Re:NRA complaint takes down Surge's 38,000 websites by jacquesm on Thursday June 30, 2016 @01:49PM (#12010354)

The part where the NRA filed a take-down request on something that used their logo in a way that was obviously satirical. Of course that would never stop an organization from getting rid of said satire if they thought they could get away with it and sadly DO proved them right in this respect.

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Re:NRA complaint takes down Surge's 38,000 websites by sverige on Thursday June 30, 2016 @01:54PM (#12010393)

From reading the other replies here, I don't know that it's a given that the NRA wouldn't prevail in court. In other words, they might have a case. So there's no bad faith for defending their trademarks if it's debatable, is there?

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Re:NRA complaint takes down Surge's 38,000 websites by jacquesm on Thursday June 30, 2016 @01:58PM (#12010429)

I'm not a judge, and I understand that it is very well possible to sue even if you know up front you have a lost case if you have deeper pockets than your opponent.

But let's look at what trade-mark law is all about: it's about avoiding confusion. Do you honestly believe that there is a ground for consumer confusion here, that consumers would believe that the NRA would actually put out these statements? Given the context of the publication as well as the content of the material itself?

Or could it be that the NRA figured out a way to shut down a viewpoint that clashes with their own through abuse of the law?

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Re:NRA complaint takes down Surge's 38,000 websites by lotharbot on Thursday June 30, 2016 @02:32PM (#12010681)

I think you may be underestimating the stupidity of some consumers.

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Re:NRA complaint takes down Surge's 38,000 websites by nickpsecurity on Thursday June 30, 2016 @05:54PM (#12012102)

He really is despite being right for I'd say most (maybe?) of the population. Especially considering that even news sites occasionally report on Onion News stories as real news. There's also examples like this scholarly study on misperceptions among people who mortgage homes:

http://www.satirewire.com/news/0106/dream.shtml

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