Having already won the prize for “Activist Group With the Least Sense of Humor,” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals won its “cybersquatting” court case yesterday, according to a PETA press release.
PETA had filed a suit against Michael Doughney, who registered the domain name “peta.org” in 1995. Doughney used the Web address to mock the activist group by creating a pseudo-non-profit organization called “People Eating Tasty Animals.” PETA won its case in part on the basis of the Anti-Cybersquatting and Consumer Privacy Act, which protects against misappropriation of domain names for commercial benefit.
The judge ruled that Doughney “clearly intended to confuse, mislead, and divert Internet users into accessing his Web site, which contained information … harmful to the goodwill represented by the PETA mark.”
