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FuckedCompany.com Parodies Amazon Home Page

"We see a number of parodies," Amazon spokesperson Patty Smith told Newsbytes. "We get a big chuckle out of them. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Smith noted another parody at Brains4zombies.com, which offers brains, other brains, celebrity brains and zombie chat in tabs similar to what appears on Amazon's home page.

Idealab's reaction to being a FuckedCompany parody is in stark contrast to that of Amazon. The Net incubator's lawyers fired off a letter to FuckedCompany, charging trademark infringement and threatening to take legal action if the parody was not removed from the site.

A spokesman for idealab said the company had no further comment about the parody.

A letter attributed to idealab lawyers that was posted on FuckedCompany says the parody "constitutes trademark infringement and unfair competition in that users of your services may erroneously believe that such services and/or online activities are licensed, sponsored, or authorized by idealab!" The letter also cites "evidence of actual confusion" created by the parody but gave no details.

The episode raises interesting legal questions because there's no case law on such online parodies, said attorney Leslie Kramer, who specializes in Internet trademark and copyright law at Dorr, Carson, Sloan and Birney in Denver.

"I would expect that the court, if (the case) does go to court, would probably make an initial attempt to apply the current laws on the books," Kramer told Newsbytes. "The big question is the distribution of parody."

Earlier this month FuckedCompany owner Philip Kaplan put his site up for sale on eBay but soon removed it and invited interested parties to submit bids on the site's home page.

Dorr, Carson, Sloan and Birney is on the Web at www.patnet.com.

Reported by Newsbytes, www.newsbytes.com.

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