NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      ST. LOUIS (CWNews.com) - A federal judge on Wednesday made a temporary restraining order permanent and prohibited an online pornographer from setting up a web site that provides news coverage of next week's papal visit to St. Louis along with pornographic material.

      US District Judge Stephen Limbaugh ruled that Internet Entertainment Group had violated the trademark held by the Archdiocese of St. Louis when it registered a domain name for the site that included a reference to Pope John Paul II's January 26-27 visit. The sites, as originally posted earlier this month before being removed at a court order, included links to papal speeches, a biography, and an event list as well as a history of alleged sexual scandals and dirty jokes.

      The archdiocese had maintained that the sites violated their trademark on references to the visit and could have been confusing to the public. Limbaugh ruled today the archdiocese owns the trademarks to the pope's visit and barred Internet Entertainment Group from using any variation of "Papal Visit 1999," "Pastoral Visit," "1999 Papal Visit Commemorative Official Commemorative Items" or "Papal Visit 1999, St. Louis." He also ordered the company's papal web site domain names canceled.