A Salt Lake-based group known for its criticism of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has filed suit accusing a pro-LDS group of securing Internet domain names associated with the names of their organization and founders.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court by Utah Lighthouse Ministry Inc., claims Allen Wyatt, his wife Debra Wyatt and The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) registered 13 Internet domain names associated with Utah Lighthouse Ministry and the names of its founders, Jerald and Sandra Tanner.

The actions, UTLM alleges, amounts to cybersquatting, in which a person registers domain names with the intent to benefit from the name association.

The Tanners use UTLM to publish and sell books, newsletters and Internet content critical of the LDS Church. The suit alleges that the domainsregistered to Wyatt, which includes utahlighthouse.com, sandratanner.com and jeraldtanner.com directed people to FAIR's Web site.

The suit names FAIR, a New York corporation, and its president Scott Gordon, as well as Allen Wyatt, his wife Debra, and their company, Discovery Computing Inc. out of Mesa Ariz.

Speaking from Mesa, Allen Wyatt said he had not been served with the suit and did not know enough about the allegations to respond. Wyatt said his registration of the domain names was within his first-amendment rights and was used as a way to reach those critical of the LDS Church to see the point of view of LDS members. Wyatt said FAIR is a non-profit "grass-roots" organization that is not affiliated with the LDS Church, unlike FARMS (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies), which is based out of Brigham Young University.

For alleged violations of cybersquatting, trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition, UTLM is asking a federal judge to order that the Wyatts and FAIR disclose and turn over all associated registered domain names and pay three times the damages found by the court.

Wyatt said he has yet to determine how to proceed with the suit. The links to FAIR's Web site using the contested domain names have been taken down, he said.

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E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com