LOS ANGELES — PerezHilton.com, a blog recognized the world around for its celebrity gossip and catty comments, was pulled offline by its Internet service provider after several photo agencies complained about copyrighted photos regularly posted on the site.

The blog’s operator, Mario Lavandeira, retaliated by reposting his site using another ISP, citing the fair use doctrine as reason to be allowed to remain live and online.

“PerezHilton.com stands by its commitment to protect the freedom of people to transform content on the Internet for the purpose of commentary and satire and unquestionably believes that it comports with the fair use exception,” Bryan J. Freedman, Lavandeira’s lawyer, said in a CNN.com report.

Because Lavandeira alters the photos on his site — usually by carefully placing white smudges and scribbled writing near the subjects’ faces — he believes he is altering the copyrighted photos in a way that does not infringe the law.

As of this article being published on the Netpond Blog the Blog in question is once again back up. Though on a different host.

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