The White House has faced some hard questions involving sex in the last few years, but it doesn't stop lots of people from fighting over it. Apparently, people fight over Whitehouse.com, too, for reasons having nothing to do with President Clinton's real or alleged libido.
One of them is a fruit juice maker who has demanded an Internet porn site hand over the name Whitehouse.com - or else. The other is America Online, who says they're spammers and with whom Whitehouse.com is in a dispute over whether AOL is refusing to send Whitehouse.com e-mail to AOL subscribers.
National Fruit Product Company says it's been using the White House name as a brand since 1913, holding an exclusive copyright on the brand name. Whitehouse.com, a porn site operating the last two or three years, often runs even-up with Whitehouse.gov (the URL of that White House) in terms of page views and unique visitors, according to ZDNet News.
But National Fruit's attorney has fired off a missive to Whitehouse.com demanding they turn the domain name over post haste, saying the use of the name for porn "dilutes and tarnishes the distinctive quality of our client's famous mark."
Tarnish, schmarnish, retorts Whitehouse.com, whose founder, Dan Parisi, has filed a lawsuit asking the courts to dismiss the infringement claims.
National Fruit has two approved registrations of the White House mark, including one for cider going back to 1918, ZDNet says, but 31 other applications to use White House were also approved by the government.
Some legal observers say National Fruit would have to prove in court that Whitehouse.com's being an adult entertainment site does indeed tarnish their brand - and prove that their White House trademark is, indeed, a famed trademark as opposed to other White House trademarks.
Parisi tells ZDNet the real question may hinge on selective enforcement, since Whitehouse.com was approved as a trademark yet rejected four months later by the U.S. Patent Office.
National Fruit says the question began when some customers surfing the Internet for information about their White House complained to the company after happening upon Whitehouse.com.
Meanwhile, Parisi says AOL is impinging on one of its tradmarks - MYNEWS - while also blocking the porn site from sending e-mail to AOL subscribers.
Whitehouse.com lawyers tell ZDNet that MYNEWS is a descriptive mark which cannot be trademarked formally. Whitehouse.com began as a potpourri of political satire, porn, and life chat, until Parisi decided to take the site more widely into adult entertainment. He told ZDNet that choice was a matter of economics - he didn't want to shut down, but he was tired of the site losing money.
AOL says Whitehouse.com is a spammer, but Parisi says they're only trying to send out commercial acknowledgements, ZDNet says. And AOL tells ZDNet they will continue blocking any domain which sends its members unsolicited bulk spam.
Parisi told ZDNet the e-mail in question had to do with acknowledging customer orders from those visiting Whitehouse.com from AOL.
Whitehouse.com also takes heat from cyberspace watchdogs who fear too many children, typing the domain name in accidentally when looking for the URL of the actual White House, arrive at Whitehouse.com
