Judge dismisses Tanners' suit

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a couple known for espousing anti-Mormon views and claimed that another organization usurped Internet domain names that linked viewers to pro-LDS Web sites.

Sandra Tanner and her late husband, Jerald, who died in 2006, have been longtime critics of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The couple founded Utah Lighthouse Ministries (UTLM) and sold books, newsletters and Internet materials that challenged LDS doctrines and practices.

UTLM filed suit against Allen Wyatt; his wife, Debra; their company, Discovery Computing Inc., based in Arizona; another organization called Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR), a New York-based corporation; and its president, Scott Gordon.

The Tanners maintained that Wyatt had registered several Internet domain names associated with UTLM and the Tanners — and also linked viewers to pro-LDS Web sites.

These 10 names included such things as sandratanner.com, geraldtanner.com and lighthouseministries.org.

The Tanners alleged this constituted cybersquatting, trademark infringement, unfair competition, and it also allegedly put off potential customers who might have bought products the Tanners offered.

However, U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball on Monday dismissed the civil lawsuit with prejudice.

The judge said in a 23-page opinion that Discovery Computing, FAIR and those associated with it did not realize any financial gain from these Internet domain names, so there was no trademark infringement under the federal Lanham Act.

Ronald Dunn, attorney for FAIR and Scott Gordon, said he believed Sandra Tanner was badly advised. Dunn said that Wyatt, who created the Web site without any input from Gordon, immediately offered to relinquish the domain names once the lawsuit was filed, but that offer was rejected.

"I feel bad for Sandra Tanner, she's had a bad year, she lost her husband," Dunn said. "This could have gone away easily if the lawyers had not been so bellicose about it."

Paul Oestreich, attorney for Sandra Tanner and Utah Lighthouse Ministries, said he was not pleased with the ruling and his client has not decided whether or not to appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"We firmly believe the acts of Wyatt and FAIR constitute trademark infringement," Oestreich said. "This ruling is in conflict with other courts of appeal, but as Judge Kimball correctly noted, there is no 10th Circuit ruling."

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E-mail: lindat@desnews.com