• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, September 30, 2009

It might be intended as parody, but Glenn Beck is none too amused by the month-old Web site glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirl in1990.com.

The Fox News Network talk show host brought a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center in September, arguing that the site should be shut down for infringing his trademark. Beck argues that nothing in the domain name indicates that it "resolves to a complaint or protest site." Therefore, he argues, its creator "is attempting to mislead the public regarding the nature, origin and affiliation of the Web site."

The site's creator, Isaac Eiland-Hall, fired back this week -- contending that the site does not infringe on Beck's trademark because there's no likelihood that Web users wrongly think he's affiliated with it. "Only an abject imbecile could believe that the domain name would have any connection to the complainant," Eiland-Hall's lawyer, Marc J. Randazza, argues.

The dispute springs from a Web meme originating on Aug. 31, when a commenter on Fark.com posed the question: "Why haven't we had an official response to the rumor that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990?"

The next day, Eiland-Hall set up the site. As of Wednesday, two disclaimers at the top of the page prominently say it's a parody.

While Beck isn't suing for libel -- at least not yet -- he argues that the allegedly defamatory nature of the domain name shows that it was registered in bad faith.

But Eiland-Hall's attorney argues that the site is not libelous because it's "satirical political humor."

He also alleges that Beck is attempting to shut down the site because he doesn't like being criticized. "We are not here because the domain name could cause confusion," Randazza writes. "We are here because Mr. Beck wants respondent's Web site shut down. He wants it shut down because Respondent's website makes a poignant and accurate satirical critique of Mr. Beck by parodying Beck's very rhetorical style."

The papers reference a YouTube clip of Beck interviewing Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), a Muslim. During that interview, he asked Ellison to prove that he was "not working with our enemies."