USOC claims person continues to infringe on its trademarks.
The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has filed a lawsuit (pdf) against Alan Bachand, an individual with whom the organization has a history when it comes to domain names.
Back in 2009 the USOC objected to Bachand’s use of the domain name OlympicsBestHotels.com to pitch hotels for the Vancouver Olympics. It ended up filing a UDRP against Bachand and won control of the domain.
Now the USOC is objecting to his use of the Olympics trademarks on a number of other sites, including SuperHotelRooms.com, 14sb.com, and LuxurySuperBowlHotels.com.
USOC says it reached out to Bachand about the infringing use, but he hasn’t made all of the changes it requested.
Its suit claims that Bachand is violating the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act and the Lanham Act.
In the UDRP all Bachand lost was his domain name. With a lawsuit, he could face financial penalties if he loses.
Domain Smell says
Back when I was a greenhorn in early 1996 I registered OlympicHousing.com. I got a cease and desist letter from the Olympic Housing Authority telling me to delete the domain. It never occurred to me they had a TM on the word “olympic”.
I still have that letter and it might be one of the first of it’s kind on the Net regarding domains.
Funny thing is today someone is cybersquatting on OlympicHousing.com by redirecting it to a ticket site at TicketWholesaler.com ….. LOL.
.