Update: Judge rejects website restraining order

A county judge -- and a Republican judge at that -- has denied a request by the Hamilton County Republican to immediately shut down a web site squatting on an related domain name.

Reporter Sharon Coolidge reports in Thursday's Enquirer:

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Ralph "Ted" Winkler Wednesday denied a request by the Hamilton County Republican Party to shut down a Web site the party claimed violated its trademark rights.

The Web site, hamiltoncountyrepublicanparty.com, is the creation of Michael Dalton, 51, a Forest Park Democrat who also registered several other variations of the name just before the Nov. 8 election. The official Republican Party Web site is at hamiltoncountyrepublicanparty.org.

The party requested a temporary restraining order arguing there is "a likelihood of confusion" between the sites. Dalton's site is critical of the Hamilton County Republican Party.

Winkler said political speech is protected by the constitution and that he looked at the Web site and didn't think somebody would get confused. Clearly it is not a site sponsored by the Hamilton County Republican Party, Winkler said.

"This is a great victory for free speech, any reasonable person reading the site cannot be confused," said Dalton's lawyer, Gregory Beck, of Public Citizen, a consumer rights group that tackles issues about free speech on the Internet.

The Republican Party has the option of continuing to fight to get the Web site shut down or dropping the lawsuit.

"We'll discuss it with our attorney and consider our options," said Brad Greenberg, executive director of the Hamilton County Republican Party.