I have kept my eye on this case for some time, and it has finally come to a pleasant conclusion. 2600.com is a group which had registered the website FuckGeneralMotors.com and, lacking anything better to do with it yet, linked it to a GM alternative, Ford. Ford decided it didn't like this, and so filed suit.

In December of last year, a Michingan court dismissed the case on the grounds that Ford had no grounds to sue. Ford appealed to the 6th Circuit to have the case reinstated, but yesterday gave up and the two sides agreed to a dismissal.

This is merely but one instance in a series of suits over sites linking to other sites, but intelligence ruled in this case. It is an important decision, as it sets a precedent for allowing people to pretty much link wherever they want without neccesarily obtaining consent from the linkee. This is especially important for newssites(like yours truly) because linking elsewhere is often the best way to direct a reader to more information without breaking the flow of a story. While true that this does not cover URL's which contain one of the plaintiff's trademarks, we can but hope that precedent will be set soon as well.

-David 'Klep' Kleppinger, Raving Lunatic

For more information on the various lawsuits Ford has filed over domain names, check out FordReallySucks.com

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