Starcom Mediavest Group v. Mediavestw.com, No. 10-4025, 2010 WL 3564845 (September 13, 2010) In rem actions over domain names are powerful tools. A trademark owner can undertake these actions when it identifies an infringing domain name but cannot locate the owner of that domain name. In a sense, the domain name itself is the defendant. [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Cybersquatting’
Righthaven seeks domain name transfer – relief that is not called for under the Copyright Act
September 7th, 2010
4 Comments
Tactics suggest overreaching on more than just copyright grounds. News broke over the Labor Day weekend that Righthaven, that enterprise set up to file copyright lawsuits over alleged infringements of articles from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, sued Nevada senate candidate Sharron Angle. The complaint [PDF] contains two claims for copyright infringement over allegations that Angle [...]
Trademark holder not entitled to domain name registered years before
May 12th, 2010
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Arizona State Trailer Sales, Inc. d/b/a Little Dealer Little Prices RV v. World Wide RV, No. FA1003001315658 (Nat’l Arb. Forum, May 7, 2010) Startups in the process of selecting a company or product name are often frustrated to see that someone else, years ago, registered the .com version of their newly thought-of name. Similarly, companies [...]
Cybersquatter hit with maximum penalty
March 10th, 2009
8 Comments
Citigroup, Inc. v. Shui, 2009 WL 483145 (E.D. Va. Feb. 24, 2009) Court enjoins use of citybank.org, orders defendant to pay $100,000 in statutory damages and to pay Citibank’s attorneys’ fees. Defendant Shui registered the domain name citybank.org and established a site there promoting financial services, sometimes using the mark CITIBANK. The real Citibank, armed [...]
Verizon obtains damages, injunction against regsitrar under ACPA
January 8th, 2009
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[This is a guest post by contributor Brian Beckham] Plaintiff Verizon California, Inc. (Verizon) recently obtained a default judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, in its favor against Defendant, the registrar OnlineNIC, Inc. (press release). Despite repeated attempts, Verizon was not able to serve notice on [...]
Statutory damages for copying competitor’s catalog on website
June 30th, 2008
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Silver Ring Splint Co. v. Digisplint, Inc., 2008 WL 2478390 (W.D.Va. June 18, 2008) Silver Ring and Digisplint are competitors in a niche industry, each producing and selling fine jewelry quality finger splints made of gold and sterling silver. Silver ring sued Digisplint for copyright infringement alleging that Digisplint copied text from Silver Ring’s 1994 [...]
Finding ATLAS COPCO and ATLAS CASPIAN confusingly similar, court awards in rem ACPA relief to unopposed plaintiff
January 30th, 2008
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Atlas Copco AB v. Atlascopcoiran.com, No. 07-1208, 2008 WL 149128 (E.D. Va. January 8, 2008) Unable to hail the overseas registrants of domain names, including atlascaspian.com and atlascopcoiran.com into a U.S. court, plaintiff Atlas Copco AB sought in rem relief against the domain names under 15 U.S.C. §1125(d)(2)(a). After the defendants failed to answer the [...]
Personal name must have trademark significance for protection under ACPA
January 23rd, 2008
2 Comments
Salle v. Meadows, No. 07-1089, 2007 WL 4463920 (M.D. Fla. December 17, 2007) Defendant Meadows thought that Plaintiff Salle owed him about $9,500. He was apparently having some trouble getting paid, so he registered the plaintiff’s personal name as a domain name – briansalle.com. He then tried to sell it to Salle for the amount [...]
