Butterfly kisses? Not hardly
by Matt Broersma
Hans Schnauber says he bought up domain names like timewarner.org and msnhotmail.com to do the world a favor: he just wants to spread information about endangered species of butterflies.
But some of the major corporations whose names he is borrowing are not amused. And according to legal experts, it is the corporations, not Schnauber, who are in the right.
Time Warner has already demanded its domain name be turned over, but the butterfly-fancier said he will not give in.
Schnauber is the founder of the International Federation of Butterfly Enthusiasts, an international organization that seeks to protect the over 200 species of butterflies Schnauber says are endangered or already extinct.
He plans to use sites with prominent-sounding names — names like sprint.org and msnnetwork.com — to describe how each company has helped or harmed the butterfly kingdom; each site will also promote his organization’s own Web page, at www.ifbe.net.
Schnauber calls the plan a “Web wheel.”
“We would prefer to print positive information about how companies have protected butterflies,” Schnauber said. “For example, General Mills have done a good deal on their headquarters, planting a type of milkweed to attract the monarch butterflies.”
Schnauber says companies like Microsoft were happy to be included in his plan. But at least two companies — Time Warner Inc. and USA Today — were less than pleased to learn that their corporate names would appear over someone else’s Web pages, even if, as Schnauber insists, he’s just “Trying to Make the World a Better Place.”
Last Friday, Time Warner made its intentions clear in an email to Schnauber: “We hereby demand that you surrender the TimeWarner.org, or any similar domain name to us.”
Schnauber insists trademark laws do not apply to domain names, but legal analysts disagree.
“If he’s deliberately trying to confuse the public between the two sites, then (Time Warner) can stop him,” said John Gilmore, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which follows legal issues on the Internet.
“It’s as if you typed in the New York Times and you got an alternative newspaper that told you someone’s opinions about the New York Times,” Gilmore continued.
“It’s fine for him to talk about Time Warner’s effects on butterflies, but he shouldn’t call it Time Warner.”
“It seems like a straightforward case of trademark confusion,” Gilmore said.
Schnauber said he will go to court to keep the domain names, if that’s what it takes to help the butterflies of the world. “We will do whatever it takes,” he said.
“We will take it to the Supreme Court of the Universe if we have to.”
