Absent the “framing” by Defendants described above, someone wishing to view
the content of Plaintiffs’ sites would, upon accessing those sites, see only
Plaintiffs’ material as Plaintiffs intend for it to be seen. Use of Defendants’
website thus results in continuous, prolonged exposure to the logo, URL and
advertising of totalnews.com. Defendants have promoted totalnews.com to
advertisers and the public based entirely on Defendants’ ability to republish the
content of Plaintiffs’ sites within the totalnews frames, including frames
containing advertising.^3042The plaintiffs alleged that Total News infringed the copyrights in various materials from
the plaintiffs’ websites by “republishing” such material through the Total News site. The
complaint did not state which specific rights of the copyright holders were infringed, referring
instead merely to the plaintiff’s “exclusive rights under 17 U.S.C. § 106.”^3043 The plaintiffs also
alleged claims for misappropriation of news, federal trademark dilution, federal and state
trademark infringement, unfair competition, and tortious interference with contractual relations
with their advertisers.
At least one of the plaintiffs, CNN, attempted to counteract the deleterious effects of the
framing by employing special code in its Web page that checked to see if the content was being
viewed from within a frame, and, if so, caused the unauthorized composite page to be replaced
with the CNN page on the entire screen. This technical solution had several problems, however.
It took up to a minute or more to take effect, and a pop-up window inviting users to return to the
Total News site was still able to appear superimposed on the CNN website.^3044
In June of 1997, the parties settled the case pursuant to a stipulated order of settlement
and dismissal.^3045 Under the settlement, Total News agreed to stop framing the plaintiffs’
websites. However, the settlement permitted Total News to maintain out links from the Total
News website to any of the plaintiffs’ websites, provided that the links were only via hyperlinks
consisting of the names of the linked sites in plain text; Total News made no use, as hyperlinks
or otherwise, of any of the plaintiffs’ proprietary logos or other distinctive graphics, video or
audio material; and the links were not likely to imply affiliation, endorsement or sponsorship by
any plaintiff or otherwise cause confusion, dilution of the plaintiff’s marks, or other violations of
state or federal law.
- The Seattle Sidewalk Case
In April of 1997, Ticketmaster Corporation brought an action in federal district court
against Microsoft Corporation based on links from Microsoft’s “Seattle Sidewalk” website to
Ticketmaster’s website. In February of 1998, Ticketmaster filed a Second Amended Complaint,
(^3042) Complaint in The Washington Post Co. v. Total News, Inc., 97 Civ. 1190 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 20, 1997) at ¶ 35.
(^3043) Id. ¶ 72.
(^3044) Gahtan, supra note 3041, at 4.
(^3045) A copy of the Stipulation and Order of Settlement and Dismissal is available at
http://www.callaw.com/opinions/hotdocs/totalnew.html.