From: Doug Isenberg [mailto:disenberg@GigaLawFirm.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 1:02 PM
To: Martin, James
Subject: RE: Wikipedia Art
Dear Mr. Martin:
This e-mail is in response to your letter dated April 3, 2009 regarding the domain name <wikipediaart.org>.
Please note that your letter mischaracterizes my letter to your client, Scott Kildall, on behalf of my client, the Wikimedia Foundation (“Wikimedia”). You wrongly state that Wikimedia “has alleged” certain legal violations by Mr. Kildall and that Wikimedia has reached “legal conclusions” regarding Mr. Kildall’s activities. However, as stated in my letter to Mr. Kildall, Wikimedia has merely “asked me to investigate whether” Mr. Kildall’s activities violate Wikimedia’s legal rights.
More importantly, you mistakenly state that Wikimedia wants “to suppress free speech by threatening legal action.” The truth is that Wikipedia has not threatened any legal action and, as my letter made clear, Wikimedia’s action are “not intended to interfere in any way with [Mr. Kildall’s] right to create and maintain an editable art project under another name.”
Nevertheless, Wikimedia appreciates your offer to “explore an amicable resolution to this matter.” Accordingly, I think it would be helpful to draw your attention to a recent domain name dispute between Wikimedia and the registrant of the domain name <visualwikipedia.com>. The registrant of that domain name was using it in connection with a website that described itself as “a visual, intuitive, and interactive web interface to encyclopedic knowledge/information.” The registrant of that domain name refused to cooperate with Wikimedia, after which Wikimedia filed a complaint pursuant to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“UDRP”), resulting in a published decision ordering the domain name transferred to Wikimedia. See WIPO Case No. D2009-0139, available at http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2009/d2009-0139.html
The registrant of the domain name <visualwikipedia.com> is now operating its website at http://www.viswiki.com, and Wikimedia has not objected.
In light of the above, Wikimedia suggests that Mr. Kildall select a domain name that does not include any of Wikimedia’s trademarks and that Mr. Kildall transfer the <wikipediaart.org> domain name to Wikimedia. Doing so would allow Mr. Kildall to continue to freely express himself without raising the same concerns that Wikimedia has asked me to investigate. If Mr. Kildall is willing to do so, please let me know by April 16, 2009.
Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
Doug Isenberg
The GigaLaw Firm, Douglas M. Isenberg, Attorney at Law, LLC
5 Concourse Parkway
Suite 3000
Atlanta, Georgia 30328 USA
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disenberg@GigaLawFirm.com (e-mail); www.GigaLawFirm.com (website)