Three Angels Broadcasting v. Joy [1]

Three Angels Broadcasting Network [2] ("3ABN"), a non-denominational Christian TV and radio ministry with ties to Seventh-Day Adventism, and Danny Lee Shelton, 3ABN's president and one of its founders, sued Gailon Arthur Joy and Robert Pickle for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, defamation, and tortious interference with business relations, after Joy and Pickle launched a website at save3abn.com (archived at save-3abn.com [3]), which criticized Shelton and the ministry.

3ABN owns a registered trademark for "3ABN" and uses the mark in the domain names and titles of several websites, including its primary website, 3ABN.org [2].  Joy and Pickle, both of whom are Seventh-Day Adventists, launched their site to publicize their concerns about 3ABN and its management. According to the complaint, their website contained information "antithetical to 3ABN's message" and allegedly published false statements claiming that 3ABN and its president engaged in certain ethical, financial, administrative, and operational improprieties. In the lawsuit, 3ABN and Shelton claim that these statements are defamatory, and that use of "3ABN" in the website's title and domain name infringed and diluted the ministry's trademark rights.

As of July 2008, the parties were engaged in discovery.