''Taubman Sucks'' is a short documentary about a precedent-setting

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

. The documentary was written and directed by filmmaker Theo Lipfert, an associate professor in the School of Film and Photography at

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...

Bozeman, Montana Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...

. An original score was created for the documentary by composer Stefan Hakenberg of

Juneau, Alaska The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...

. The six-minute film explores '' Taubman v. WebFeats'', a lawsuit that involved the complex relationships between

domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

s, and

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been ...

. As the first " sucks.com" case to reach the level of the

United States Court of Appeals United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

, the decision in ''Taubman v. WebFeats'' established precedents concerning the non-commercial use of trademarks in domain names.

Screening history

''Taubman Sucks'' premiered at the

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Cap ...

on June 19, 2004. It subsequently has been screened at more than 30

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

s and has appeared on television several times. It was one of ten short films selected for the "Best of the Northwest Film & Video Festival Tour"Movies & More
Retrieved December 15, 2009. sponsored by the Northwest FilmCenter in 2005.

References

External links

*
''Taubman Sucks''
on YouTube.
Theo Lipfert
– Theo Lipfert's website. * Stefan Hakenberg article in English edition of Wikipedia. * Stefan Hakenberg article in German edition of Wikipedia. 2004 films 2004 short documentary films Documentary films about the media American short documentary films Documentary films about law in the United States 2000s American films {{short-documentary-film-stub