ACLU asks court to throw out Jerry Falwell's Web site lawsuit [AP] Attorneys for Gary Cohn, an Illinois man whose Web sites ridicule the Rev. Jerry Falwell have asked a federal judge in Lynchburg, Va., to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the pastor that attempts to take control of the domain names. The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, which is representing Cohn with consumer advocacy group Public Citizen of Washington D.C., said that the site deserves the same First Amendment protection as cartoon editorials in newspapers and late-night comedy shows. "What we're talking about is the right of a citizen to speak out to criticize a public figure," said Kent Willis, executive director of Virginia's ACLU. "Jerry Falwell is a very public figure." Cohn, of Highland Park, Ill., created www.jerryfalwell.com and www.jerryfallwell.com last year in response to Falwell's public comments following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Falwell claimed feminists, homosexuals and abortion-rights advocates provoked God to "lift the curtain" of divine protection on America. "I decided we can't just let someone say those things and get away with it," Cohn said. Though Falwell later apologized for his comments, Falwell's lawyers now claim that Cohn's site, which spoofs the Lynchburg minister with cartoons and sardonic editorials, is libelous and illegally uses the pastor's trademark. The World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, rejected a similar complaint in June, noting that Falwell never officially tried to trademark his name. Falwell later sued Cohn in federal court in Lynchburg, where Falwell's ministry is based. Cohn's lawyers also are arguing that Falwell has no right to bring the case in Virginia, since Cohn is not licensed to do business in Virginia and does not specifically target Virginia residents. "The only reason Falwell filed suit in Virginia is because he lives there," Public Citizen attorney Paul Alan Levy said in a statement. "Yet Falwell is hauling Cohn to a court hundreds of miles from Cohn's home. "If the court were to hear this case, it would set a dangerous precedent. People who type their thoughts about public figures on a computer would think twice if they knew they would have to defend themselves at any spot on the globe where the figure happened to be." Douglas: They Were Out To Get Max Why did JM Productions and Seymore Butts seemingly walk away from their obscenity cases with a mere smack on the hand whereas Max Hardcore is going to have to make a fight of it. According to Max's attorney Jeffrey Douglas, it's real personal. Here's what Douglas had to say in an 8/21 interview. Douglas: The reason that [Max] got selected for prosecution is because there are two or three cops, one of whom is dying, but anyway there are two or three cops in what used to be the organized crime vice division, pornography unit. There are a couple of guys there who fucking hate [Max]. And that's how he got to come to the top of the heap. That's one of the things you got to live with. The fact that he makes European versions- they've seen the European versions and they wanted to prosecute him for that. The fact that not the DA, not the CA is willing to do that, offends the cops. So they latched on to this.
