Exodus Drops Billboard Case
I previously posted about Exodus International claiming that blogger Justin Watt, who blogs at Justinsomnia.org, violated copyright and trademark laws when he posted a parody of their “Gay? Unhappy? www.exodus.to” ad campaign. USA TODAY reported on Thursday that Exodus “is no longer pursuing the matter after Watt stopped using its ‘watermark’ logo.”
Watt, operator of the Justinsomnia blog, says he exercised free speech when he parodied the Exodus billboard, which says, “Gay? Unhappy? www.exodus.to.” Wyatt re-created the billboard on his site so it read, “Straight? Unhappy? www.gay.com.”
(Exodus uses “.to” as its domain suffix because “.com” was not available.)
Watt, 26, a Web developer in Northern California who enlisted the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union and high-powered law firm Fenwick & West, has posted his blog for four years. He posted the parody Sept. 19 because he found Exodus’ message “offensive.” A lawyer representing Exodus sent Watt a cease-and-desist letter on March 2.
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