United Airlines uses IP law in bid to squelch “Untied.com” complaint site

News today that United Airlines has filed a lawsuit pressing copyright and trademark claims against “Untied.com”, a United Airlines complaint site run by a Canadian engineering professor named Jeremy Cooperstock. Reports suggest that United got annoyed when Cooperstock re-designed the 15-year-old site to more closely resemble United’s own website (see screen shot, above), using colors and logos that look a lot like United’s. Cooperstock admits that his site looks similar to United’s, but he says that’s necessary because it is a parody and so must reference the real thing. Additionally, Cooperstock insists that nobody would think his gripe site is the real United Airlines site — especially after he recently included a pop-up window asking visitors to acknowledge that they get that it’s not the real airline’s site.

If Cooperstock’s site is indeed a parody of United’s, then he has wide latitude under both copyright and trademark and liability is unlikely. But it’s impossible to tell definitively because Coopersmith’s internet hosting provider has taken down Untied.com, apparently in response to a request from United. This despite United’s claims that is has no intent to have Cooperstock’s complaint site taken down.

Hmmmmm.

UPDATE: Prof. Cooperstock writes to say that Untied.com is back up. (We checked – it is.) The site is a hoot and worth a visit.