Deadline Passes On Threatened Lawsuit By Petersen Campaign Over 'Infringing Domains'

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — As of late Thursday afternoon, the campaign of State Sen. Chap Petersen has not filed a lawsuit against Saddam Azlan Salim, his opponent in the June 20 Democratic Primary.

Ibnul A. Khan, acting as Petersen's legal counsel, sent a cease and desist letter on May 4 demanding that the Salim campaign and the Friends of Saddam Azlan Salim stop using at least five websites redirecting traffic to a page on its official website [https://www.salimforsenate.com/chap]. The letter also demanded Salim's campaign cease and desist trying to register two "infringing domains" [ www.fairfaxsenator.org and www.chappetersen.org].

The Salim campaign had until 5 p.m. on Friday, May 5 to respond in writing that the appropriate actions were taken to ensure that the websites were no longer live. If the campaign failed to comply with the demands of the letter by Monday, Khan said Petersen would seek emergency injunctive relief for violations of the Lanham Act and ACPA against Salim and the Friends group.

"After they received the C&D, Mr. Salim and his campaign manager promptly reached out to me on Friday, who advised that the websites redirecting traffic were taken down," Khan told Patch in an email on Thursday. "I did also see that certain tweets and a YouTube video, containing reference to the Infringing Domains, were also taken down."

In a letter released last Friday, Laura Stokes, Salim's campaign manager, said that the campaign did not own the "infringing domains" that were redirecting traffic to Salim's official website.

The video, which was still on Twitter on Thursday afternoon and which can be viewed below, contained the following updated language: "Paid for Friends of Saddam Azlan Salim, Authorized by Saddam Azlan Salim, Candidate for Virginia Senate District 37. Not authorized by any other candidate." It ends with audio of Salim identifying himself and saying that he authorized the ad.

The video also referenced the page on the Salim website where more information could be found about Petersen. The message "Not an official website of Senator John Chapman Petersen" appears below a partially obscured photo of Petersen.

Khan's email claimed that the language on the website did not meet the standards outlined in Virginia Election Law on Advertising. If an advertisement makes a reference to another clearly identified candidate, the ad needed to include the language "Authorized by [Name of candidate], candidate for [Name of office]" or "Not authorized by any other candidate."

Related: Chap Petersen Campaign Threatens To Sue Opponent Salim Over Websites

Khan did acknowledge that the appropriate language was contained in a pdf file that could be downloaded by the reader, something that was added after the C&D was received, he said.

However, anyone scrolling to the bottom of that page on Thursday would find the following message, which appears to meet the requirement of the Code: "Paid for Friends of Saddam Azlan Salim, Authorized by Saddam Azlan Salim, Candidate for Virginia Senate District 37. Not Authorized by Any Other Candidate."

"I wanted to confer with Mr. Salim’s campaign regarding these remaining issues, with the hopes that they would voluntarily fix them, as this adds onto the confusion already caused by him and his campaign, through the violations I’ve alleged in my C&D of the Lanham Act and Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, by improperly rerouting traffic using the Petersen Marks," Khan said, in his email. "They’ve advised me that they’re in the process of retaining Counsel, who would contact me."

Patch reached out to Salim's campaign on Thursday for a comment about Khan's email and received this reply from Stokes:

“Regrettably, given Senator Petersen’s threat of legal action, the campaign cannot respond in depth to these issues at this time. To be clear, the information on Senator Petersen’s record on our campaign website is factual. Senator Petersen should tell voters why he wants to suppress specific details about his voting record through frivolous litigation rather than engage in traditional civic discourse. The voters will not be distracted from the real issue here, the Senator’s indefensible record on gun violence prevention, reproductive rights, paid sick leave for part-time workers, and so on — all of which does not reflect the values of the 37th district.”

Anything but Common Sense.

See the video Chap doesn't want you to see. pic.twitter.com/1eqd4AONHL
— Saddam Azlan Salim for State Senate VA-37 (@SalimVASenate) May 5, 2023