Trademark Law Should Not Be Used to Silence Speech.

The ninth circuit has ruled in a recent case that trademark law is not a “shield” from criticism and not a “sword” to silence unwanted speech. A man set up a website critical of Bosley Medical. The URL was http://www.bosleymedical.com/.
Boesley Medical sells hair restoration products. The full text of the case can be read here.
The court disagreed with the previous case of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals vs. Doughney where a man using the domain www.peta.org for his site “People that eat tasty animals” (PETA) was held to violate federal trademark law. CNN has an article that summarizes the Bosley lawsuit.