"Neiman Carcass" is Amusing, Not Confusing

The Fund for Animals runs a website using the domain names neimancarcass.com, neimancarcass.org and, of course, neimancarcass.net.  As the domain name suggests, the site reviles the upscale department store for selling couture made from the skins of cruelly-dispatched critters.  Neiman Marcus, thinking something stinks, submitted a complaint to the National Arbitration Forum seeking that the "carcass" domain names be transferred to it on the grounds that they were infringing or diluting its valuable trademark.   The Arbitrators saw through this, recognizing that Neiman's was merely trying to assert trademark rights to censor criticism.  Here's the Fund's Press Release.   "Because of its social criticism and rights to the disputed domain names under the First Amendment, the same facts that show fair use and exercise of free speech negate a finding of bad faith."   Kudos to lawyer Alice Hendricks for winning this one.