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Home > Palin v. Latif

Palin v. Latif [1]

Submitted by DMLP Staff on Wed, 09/02/2009 - 11:57

Summary

Threat Type: 

Correspondence

Date: 

05/05/2009

Disposition: 

Material Removed

Location: 

Texas

Verdict or Settlement Amount: 

N/A

Legal Claims: 

Copyright Infringement
Other
Sarah Palin, then Governor of Alaska, sent a cease and desist letter to Shoe Latif, a Houston-based DJ, who redirected traffic from her website crackho.com to Palin's official website. The cease and desist letter claimed that... read full description
Parties

Party Receiving Legal Threat: 

Shoe Latif

Type of Party: 

Individual
Government

Type of Party: 

Individual

Location of Party: 

  • Alaska

Location of Party: 

  • Texas

Legal Counsel: 

Michael A. Barnhill, Assistant Attorney General
Description

Sarah Palin, then Governor of Alaska, sent a cease and desist letter [2] to Shoe Latif, a Houston-based DJ, who redirected traffic from her website crackho.com [3] to Palin's official website. The cease and desist letter [2] claimed that crackho.com had "hijacked a state of Alaska webpage." It also claimed that crackho.com used the official seal of Alaska in violation of an Alaska state law prohibiting use of the official seal without permission.  Palin also claimed that the use of an official state website without permission was a violation of copyright law. Shoe took down her redirect and Palin never filed suit.

Shoe's website [4] now features a humorous graphic of Palin and an ordinary link to the Alaska governor's website [5] along with anchor text reading "The real crackho, Sarah Palin!" (now obviously outdated). 

Related Links: 

  • Ars Technica: crackho.com domain prank ruffles Sarah Palin's feathers [6]
  • Houston Press: Sarah Palin Takes On The Crackhos of Houston [7]
Details

Web Site(s) Involved: 

www.crackho.com [8]

Content Type: 

  • Code

Publication Medium: 

Website

Subject Area: 

  • Copyright
Court Information & Documents

Jurisdiction: 

  • Texas

Source of Law: 

  • United States

Relevant Documents: 

PDF icon 2009-05-05-Palin C&D.pdf [9]
CMLP Information (Private)

Priority: 

1-High

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Source URL (modified on 08/20/2014 - 11:10pm): https://www.dmlp.org/threats/palin-v-latif

Links
[1] https://www.dmlp.org/threats/palin-v-latif
[2] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2009-05-05-Palin%20C&D.pdf
[3] http://crackho.com/
[4] http://www.crackho.com/
[5] http://gov.state.ak.us/
[6] http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/05/crackhocom-dns-prank-ruffles-sarah-palins-feathers.ars
[7] http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2009/05/sarah_palin_crackho.php
[8] http://www.crackho.com
[9] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2009-05-05-Palin%20C%26D.pdf