Perez Hilton sues Perezrevenge.com for cyber-squatting

UPDATE: Elizabeth Silver-Fagan said in an interview that she "can't imagine" that anyone would think Perez Hilton endorsed her site.

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Celebrity celebrity-blogger Mario Lavandeira, better known as Perez Hilton, is quite possibly better at dishing it out than taking it.

The Los Angeles-based cultural authority, whose moniker could conceivably have something to do with the name of infrequently-clothed blond person Paris Hilton, is going to court to protect said moniker.

Lavandeira sued Infuse LLC, Margie E. Rogers and Elizabeth Silver-Fagan in L.A. federal court on Monday, accusing them of being the respective owner, editor and publisher of Perezrevenge.com. You can download a PDF of the lawsuit here.

Best known for annotating pictures of famous people and critiquing them, Lavandeira is demonstrably unhappy with the smaller site's purported tendency to post artwork from and critique PerezHilton.com.

The suit accuses the offenders of cyber-squatting and deceptive trade practices, with no reference to whether they look foolish in whatever they are wearing. 

The defendants, who didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, stand accused in the lawsuit of misleading the public by creating the impression that their site "is associated with and/or is otherwise authorized or endorsed by Lavandeira."

It's not clear how long such a misapprehension would last, however, since one recent post at the site began: "Mario Lavandeira a/k/a PerezHilton has once again twisted the facts (pictures below) so that he can spew his garbage, churn the rumor mill because he never??? tries to confirm a thing he writes."

The issue of confusion is an important one, legally-wise.

For example, even though it has the address www.drudge.com, DrudgeRetort probably would withstand accusations of unfairly usurping the page clicks more properly due the more famous DrudgeReport. That's because no one spending more than a few seconds on the liberal-leaning news and commentary site, which recently found itself in a legal scrap with the Associated Press, could think it was backed by Matt Drudge.

Or maybe it's still there because Drudge, who has been around the Web even longer than Lavandeira, knows that nothing generates more traffic for the little guy than a big ol' catfight.

-- Joseph Menn

Photo: Blogger Mario Lavandeira, better known as Perez Hilton, is going to court to protect his moniker. Credit: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Boris Badenof]

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Once and always a bully!

[Don]

gotta love a good cat fight .... hiisssss, meeeoww!

[ESB]

That fat, self-serving pig Perez Hilton should stick to drawing crude comments on celebrity photos and get a spine. Funny how he survives on 'borrowing' other people' photos for his purposes but rears his ugly head when someone else wants to tie into his nasty little world.

[Big Shaker]

Only in Hollywood could this horrid, mean-spirited queen have a career.

[Sophie]

Ew this man makes me sick. Hes just a fat, greedy little man, that should stick to commenting on celebrities on his conceited website, actually, he shouldnt even be doing that.

[steve poppe]

Hey, what's with all the "fat" comments. Chill.

Loved this part of the ariticle "The Los Angeles-based cultural authority, whose moniker could conceivably have something to do with the name of infrequently-clothed blond person Paris Hilton..: Great writing. Peace!.

[Xylol]

"Hilton" constantly passes unqualified value-judgments upon others, and he never hesitates to mercilessly rag on anyone's physical appearance, especially women, who do not meet his fantasy-like criteria. Since "Hilton" is not exactly svelt and minxlike, some people posting comments here find this tendency of his to be perhaps a little hypocritical. And so it is. Que lastima! It is his problem if he didn't already have the sense to stake a claim in every possible Internet permutation of his adopted monicker.

[Janet]

Why did'nt you reference that it was Mischa Barton who was, as usual, being victimized by the Mario Lavanderia blatant inaccuracies?

[BlindedbyBlonde]

I think someone is losing attwention and fame and this is just away to drum up attention. Attention is attention, whether good or bad.
He learned that from Paris. I didn't even know he was still around.
I thought his career died after that sing along show..

[mrsbeans]

All Ms. Rogers and Ms. Silver-Fagan need to do in their defense is claim their site is intended as parody or satire, which is protected under First Amendment free speech rights . . .

[wilshire & bundy]

thank god!
i thought i was the only person who doesn't find perez's hatred and bigotry entertaining. has anyone ever noticed the venom with which he attacks underage daughters of celebrities?

i mean really, he attacks young privileged CHILDREN and celebrities with malice usually reserved for hate speech from the KKK or other groups.

[Dan]

You might also be interested in the plagiarism claim against Perez here:

http://thestrippodcast.blogspot.com/2008/04/perez-hilton-on-plaigarism-charge.html

and here's more

http://thestrippodcast.blogspot.com/2008/05/perez-hilton-to-norm-youre-dead.html