Schily has raised an action with the World Intellectual Property
Organisation for transfer of the domain name
bundesinnenministerium.com (which translates as "federal interior
ministry") over its use by Gary Lauck, an American who calls
himself Gerhard Lauck. The grounds for such actions are that the
domain name is in conflict with Shily's trade mark rights, that it
has been taken without legitimate interest and that it was
registered and is being used in bad faith. Shily has also
approached the web site's host, Earthlink, asking that it takes
down the site.
According to the Guardian, Lauck came to Germany from the US and
was deported back to the US in 1996 after being convicted by a
German court for inciting racial hatred. His web site is filled
with Nazi imagery and offers a download of Hitler's Mein Kampf. It
also sells Nazi memorabilia such as stickers and flags.
The battle against Lauck could be difficult, albeit sites such
as Lauck's are illegal under German law. It is similar to the
ongoing action between French anti-racism groups and Yahoo!, based
in the US. In that case, a French court ruled that Yahoo! must
block access by French nationals to auctions on its site which
offered Nazi memorabilia for sale. In November 2001, Yahoo! won a
declaration from a Californian court which effectively said that
the portal could ignore the French ruling because compliance would
interfere with the US Constitution's right to freedom of speech. In
Schily's situation, no action is known to have been taken in the
German courts, despite the site being contrary to German law.
Any action against Lauck could run into similar problems to
those raised in the Yahoo! case. Lauck's site, however distasteful,
may be in compliance with US law. Its content might be contrary to
the terms and conditions of Earthlink and therefore the ISP may
agree to remove it. However, even if it does so, Lauck, if
determined, will probably find an alternative means of hosting the
site. The action before WIPO is not straightforward because the
domain name in use does not necessarily have any trade mark rights
attached.
The Council of Europe's recent Cybercrime Convention, which was
signed by the US and most European nations, does not directly
address racism or xenophobia on the internet. Instead, a protocol
to the Convention has been proposed which would ban such material.
Unfortunately, the US is unlikely to sign such a protocol - because
to do so would run against its Constitutional belief in freedom of
speech.
