Thursday, February 08, 2007

Urban v. Urban (UPDATED)

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports that country singer Keith Urban has brought suit in Nashville federal court against a New Jersey painter also named Keith Urban:

"Keith the Painter (hereinafter 'Painter') owns http://www.keithurban.com/ and Keith the Rocker and Husband of Nicole Kidman (hereinafter 'Rocker') owns http://keithurban.net/site.php. Rocker says Painter is trying to mislead Internet users into believing that the site is the Rocker’s Web site. The complaint ... alleges Painter is trying to sell artwork on his site by using language intended to confuse the public like, 'You have reached the site of Keith Urban. To those who don’t know, oil painting is one of my hobbies.' ... The lawsuit, which among other things alleges trademark infringement and a violation of the federal anticyberquatting laws, seeks transfer of the keithurban.com address and an injunction barring Painter from operating a Web site that suggests he’s the singer."

UPDATE: Geoff Edgers: "Far more disturbing than the idea of our court system somehow paying for this mess is a click through the 'artist's' website."