FAKE
WEBSITE
By Alex J. Socorro
At first
glance, the website www.susanroces.com
is evidently the work of an amateur scam
artist. Considering the bad grammar, the
very raw designs and dire lack of contents,
the website www.susanroces.com
is a clear attempt to use the name of
Susan Roces and exploit her popularity
for whatever purposes and intents of the
website owner.
Main
page of the www.susanroces.com, the fake
website
But the lurking ulterior
motive is slowly showing its hideous countenance.
As per the rampaging email of Bing
Manalo that landed in our inbox
with urgency, the website in question
had just begun its campaign for monetary
solicitations. The mere thought of getting
alluded to a scam raises Bing’s
blood pressure by 20 points: “Baka
kasi isipin ng tao na akin din yung susanroces.com.
Madami kasi nakakaalam na I did websites
for Susan. Since nasa showbiz tayo, sobrang
associated ako kay Susan. May mga nakakasalubong
nga ako dito na di ko gaano kilala, they
would associate me kay Susan. In a way,
gusto ko din malinis ang name ko re that
website scam. Sana makuha natin name nung
moderator ng website na yun.”
It can be remembered that
Bing Manalo is a loyalist of Susan Roces
and also the administrator of, not one
but, two websites namely:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Susan_Roces
http://susanroces.friendpages.com
which have links in the Film Academy’s
website. Although not actually official
websites of Susan Roces, these two websites
are authorized by people very close to
Susan Roces.
Incidentally, these same
people, whose deep concern for Susan Roces
cannot be questioned, were the ones who
discovered the fake website. Baby
K. Jimenez, a former showbiz
writer and close friend of Susan, was
fuming mad in her email, “grabe
itong fake na site na ito – kelangan
sagutin. go there to the site n check.”
Although residing in the US, Baby K wouldn’t
take the situation sitting down because,
considering the lousy design, it was a
downright insult to her bosom friend.
At once, Baby K relayed her dismay to
Boots Plata, a film director
and husband of Dolor Guevarra who happens
to be Susan’s manager. Since both
Baby and Boots are not well-versed in
the nuances of the internet, they sought
the help of the ever-reliable Bing Manalo
who eventually forwarded the complaint
to the Media Bureau of the Film Academy’s
website.
As they say in the old Western
movies, there ought to be a law! The internet
is a new playing field with an undetermined
scope such that legal geniuses are having
a hard time in coping with previously
unimaginable lawsuits. In some countries,
there are laws against infringement violations
concerning website names but conclusions
are reached only if the plaintiff exerts
maximum effort in pursuing the case. Kevin
Spacey, an Osca-winning actor,
had wanted to gain ownership of www.kevinspacey.com
which was registered by Jeffrey Burgar
under the name of his outfit called Alberta
Hot Rods. The California judge advised
Kevin to file a case against Burgar in
Canada, where Burgar resides! Incidentally,
Burgar is also under fire from Celine
Dion, Bruce Springsteen, Jodie Foster,
and Mariah Carey -- whose domain names
he had also registered.
The case was heard in a
Canadian court where the decision was
written by Bruce E. Meyerson (Chair),
Hon. James P. Buchele (Ret.) and Gordon
D. Harris, Panelists, dated: August 1,
2002. “The domain name <kevinspacey.com>
shall be transferred
from Respondent to Complainant.”
Thus Kevin’s was a test case that
can be considered
a precedent of sorts. The National Arbitration
Forum of Canada explained further on the
celebrity name infringement: “Fan
appreciation sites that contain fair use
reference to the celebrity's name are
not prohibited so long as there is no
specific intent to profit by reselling
a "personal name" domain to
a celebrity for a profit.”
Legalese aside, using a
person’s name, in any undertaking,
without explicit permission exudes an
immoral scent, much more if the person
is a known celebrity, whom they say is
public property. In our country, there
are no known laws except the IPR (Intellectual
Property Rights) which is still considered
young and needs to go through a lot of
test cases. But as with name infringement,
we only have protection for trade names.
The
disclaimer that relieves Susan Roces from
any liability
In fairness to the fake
website, a disclaimer is posted in an
inner page, freeing Susan Roces from any
liability that may arise. In effect, according
to a (local) legal opinion, the website
owner of www.susanroces.com
is somewhat exonerated of a civil wrong.
But that legal opinion goes as far as
the registration only and covers the angle
of the fan mentality. But using anyone’s
name without permission, as proved by
Kevin Spacey’s case, is a travesty
of ethics. Another thing going against
the owner of the questioned website is
the solicitation involved which can be
translated to exploitation of the person
for whom the web domain was named after.
Potential complainants may
encounter great difficulties in trying
to uncover the person or persons behind
the questionable website. They would be
lucky if the Dot Com offices would furnish
them the registration details such as
the name and address of the registrant.
And prosecution is like asking for the
moon. Worse, they may be following the
footsteps of Kevin with the probability
that the registrant is residing in a small
and yet unnamed country.
Comparing www.susanroces.com
with Bing’s http://susanroces.friendpages.com
and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Susan_Roces,
is like comparing a newly-hatched chick
with an ostrich. Bing’s two websites,
although both are free-hosting websites
as against the dot com site which pays
an annual registration plus hosting service
fees, are overflowing with contents and
brimming with fancy design. In fact, close
friends of Susan couldn’t thank
Bing enough for his efforts. Another plus
factor for Bing’s websites is the
big number of daily visitors as attested
in the guest book, most of whom are residing
outside the country.
Indeed, fans will be fans
forever and they will continue finding
ways on how to immortalize their idols.
And the internet is a convenient venue
for that purpose.
On the other hand, scheming
devils will be scheming devils no matter
what the rules are and no matter what
kind of game they are playing. It is always
the conscience that dictates.
* The Kevin Spacey
infringement case – source: www.domainhandbook.com
Comments to this article
can be sent to ajsocorro@yahoo.com
