A federal court judge has issued an injunction preventing the Elliot Institute for Social Sciences (the “Institute”), an institute dedicated to opposing stem-cell research, from using material it had taken from the site of the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures (the “Coalition”), an organization which supports the protection of stem-cell research.
The court found that the Institute violated the Coalition’s copyrights by mimicking the look, the feel and even invisible computer tags of the Coalition’s Website. They used the same pictures with the same layout on each page. The Coalition had argued that that was a deliberate attempt to confuse the public. The Institute even used the Coalition’s trade-marks as metatags in the Institute’s Website. The Institute will now have to stop using the trade-marks, graphic design and computer code used in the Coalition’s Website. They have indicated that they intend to comply with the ruling and set up a newly designed site.
For additional information, visit:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/14146828.htm