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Keith Urban v. Keith Urban

Country singer sues similarly-named New Jerseyan over web site

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Keith Urban v. Keith Urban

FEBRUARY 5--Keith Urban, the country star and husband of Nicole Kidman, is suing Keith Urban, the New Jersey painter, over a web site bearing their name. The singer claims that the other Keith Urban owns the keithurban.com web address and is trying to mislead Internet users into believing that the site is the star's online home. In a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Nashville, the 39-year-old singer, whose web site is keithurban.net, alleges that the New Jersey Urban is trying to sell art prints via his site, noting, 'You have reached the site of Keith Urban. To those who don't know, oil painting is one of my hobbies.' The site directs visitors to a gallery of paintings and offers a 'very limited edition' of prints for sale. While the site does not list prices, a previous version of it offered $93.50 prints of hack paintings such as 'Al Bundy for President' and 'Missing Child,' which features a lone red sneaker and a switchblade lying in a gutter. The keithurban.com domain was first registered in May 1999 by the New Jersey Urban, 37, who did not respond to a TSG e-mail seeking comment about the federal complaint. The performer's lawsuit, which does not specify monetary damages, seeks transfer of the keithurban.com address and an injunction barring the New Jersey Urban from operating a web site that suggests a relationship with the singer. (11 pages)