Falwell loses lawsuit against owner of parody website. (People & Events).It's still legal to make fun of Jerry Falwell This article is about Jerry Falwell, Sr. For the article about his son, see Jerry Falwell, Jr. Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. (August 11 1933 – May 15, 2007)[1] was an American fundamentalist Christian pastor and televangelist. on the World Wide Web. Last month, a federal court in Virginia threw out a Falwell lawsuit against Gary Cohn Gary D. Cohn is President and COO of Goldman Sachs. He has also financed the Gary D. Cohn Endowed Research Professorship in Finance at American University, his alma mater. Mr. , an Illinois man who runs the parody site www.jerryfalwell.com. The Lynchburg, Va.-based televangelist tel·e·van·gel·ist n. An evangelist who conducts religious telecasts. [Blend of television and evangelist.] tel had insisted that the site was libelous In the nature of a written Defamation ,a communication that tends to injure reputation. and infringed on trademark rights by using his name and image, but U.S. District Court Judge Norman K. Moon tossed out the lawsuit, ruling that a court based in Virginia does not have jurisdiction over the matter. Moon cited a 2002 decision from the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that a prison warden in Virginia could not sue two Connecticut newspapers for libel because the papers did not target a Virginia audience. "Mr. Cohn's site does not discuss anything that relates specifically to Virginia," Moon wrote in his Falwell v. Cohn decision. "Although Reverend Falwell's church and many of his followers are located in Lynchburg, Virginia, he is self-admittedly a nationally known religious figure." Undeterred, Falwell told the news media that he would direct his lawyers to re-file the case in a federal court based in Illinois. "I just feel that a person's name is his identity and his exclusively," Falwell said. "My objection as a minister of the gospel is to someone using my name and reflecting another philosophy contrary to what I teach and preach." Cohn's website contains cartoons and articles that parody Falwell's views. It also includes several disclaimers that read, "This website is not affiliated with Jerry Falwell. (Duh duh interj. Used to express disdain for something deemed stupid or obvious, especially a self-evident remark. [Imitative of an utterance attributed to slow-witted people.] !)." Cohn also includes a link to Falwell's actual site, www.falwell.com, for anyone who stumbles across the parody site while looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. the real thing. For someone who has been in public life for decades and eagerly seeks media appearances, Falwell seems to have a thin skin when it comes to parodies of his views. In 1983, he sued Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt over an obvious parody that depicted Falwell recalling a drunken, incestuous in·ces·tu·ous adj. 1. Of, involving, or suggestive of incest. 2. Having committed incest. sexual encounter with his mother in an outhouse. Although lower courts ruled for Falwell, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed and upheld the right of parody in 1988. |
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