Tag Archives: legal

Mon 4th June 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Obama debate sues web site over Barack Obama merchandise - Obama campaign files lawsuit over Obama merchandise featuring “rising sun” logo. Obama for America has filed a second lawsuit against DemStore.com and Washington Promotions Printing, Inc., which allegedly sell merchandise including the campaign’s “rising sun” trademark. (A quick look at DemStore.com confirms this.) The suit (pdf) was filed in U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, on June 1. Obama for American previously filed a suit against the defendants ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
It’s Craig Newmark vs. “Craig Solomon” in this humorous domain dispute - CraigsList or CraigsLists? Craigslist has filed a domain name dispute against the owner of CraigsLists.com (notice the extra ‘s’), a site purportedly run by one Craig Solomon. Whereas Craig Newmark’s Craigslist offers classified ads, Craig Solomon’s CraigsLists.com says: “To see Craig Solomon’s lists of the best online resources, just click on the links below. My information is updated daily to give you the best results possible. Yours truly, Craig” But ... read more ...
Thu 31st May 2012
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What do we consider about this Vevo.xxx decision? - Vevo snags triple xxx domain nam. Vevo.com, a music video site backed by Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Abu Dhabi Media, ust won a UDRP case for the domain name Vevo.xxx. But I find the facts of the case troubling, because it’s hard to provide any proof that the domain was registered in bad faith. The domain Vevo.xxx only resolves (or did resolve) to a registrar holding page. How can you prove anything about the registrant’s intent based ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
College Hunks and Strong Students quarrel in justice after UDRP - A muscular lawsuit. This lawsuit creates and amusing visual. Strong Students Moving, Inc. has sued (pdf) College Hunks Hauling Junk after the former lost a domain to the latter through a UDRP case. Shaun Robinson of Strong Students Moving, Inc. alleges that he registered the domain name collegehunksmoving.com while he was negotiating with College Hunks Hauling Junk to form a new business venture. The business deal didn’t go through, and earlier this year College ... read more ...
Wed 30th May 2012
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Colombia Becomes Newest Member Of The International Trademark System - According to ipwatchdog.com, “Colombia just became the 87th member of the international trademark system following the deposit of its instrument of accession to the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Marks by Vice President Angelino Garzón with WIPO Director General Francis Gurry on May 29, 2012.” This might be of particular import to those with .Co domain names and other Spanish domains “The treaty will enter into force with respect to Colombia, on August 29, 2012.” “The Madrid ... read more ...
 
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John Berryhill’s Farmville gets bigger with Elk.com victory - Pigs, ants, elephants, and elk. Domain name attorney John Berryhill has an animal fetish. When it comes to UDRPs, anyway. Berryhill has successfully defended Pig.com, Ant.com, and Elephant.com. Now you can add Elk.com to that list. I first wrote about this nonsense case back in March. Now the decision has been handed down in favor of the domain owner — with a finding of reverse domain name hijacking. The case was brought by is ELK Accesories Pty Ltd., which has ... read more ...
Tue 29th May 2012
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ICANN announces new TLD exhibit date, digital archery schedule, 500 unprepared applications - Dates are finalized and a lot of applicants have work to do before tomorrow. ICANN just provided a timeline for the new top level domain application process going forward. The “big reveal” date, when ICANN releases the full list of applicants and the strings they applied for, will be June 13. Digital Archery, which will be used for slotting which batch an application falls into, will run June 8 to June 28. Additionally, ICANN says there are over 500 incomplete ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tumblr picks adult Tumblr.co.uk in dispute - Company turns to dispute resolution service to get control of key UK domain name. Blogging service Tumblr has obtained the United Kingdom country code domain name Tumblr.co.uk through a dispute. Tumblr filed the dispute with registry Nominet’s Dispute Resolution Service against Paul Guerin of France. Guerin did not respond to the complaint, and the arbitration panelist issued a summary decision. With .uk disputes, unlike .com and .net, arbitration panels can issue ... read more ...
 
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Arbitration association loses domain settlement case - JAMS can’t have domain name, WIPO rules. Oh, the irony. An arbitration company has lost a UDRP arbitration case. JAMS, a.k.a. Jams/Endispute, LLC filed an arbitration case with World Intellectual Property Organization over the domain name jamsarbitration.com. The registrant of the domain was upset over a decision JAMS came to in a case and created the web site to voice his opinion on the matter. He didn’t respond to the complaint, but wrote to WIPO arguing that ... read more ...
Fri 25th May 2012
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Olympic Committee sues man it won UDRP against - 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 ... read more ...
Thu 24th May 2012
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Mayor arrested after illegally accessing GoDaddy comment and cancelling domain - Mayor and his son accused of hacking into email and then illegally accessing GoDaddy account to cancel domain name registration. West New York mayor Felix Roque and his son were arrested after allegedly working together to hack into an email account to gain access to a GoDaddy account and take down a domain name related to a recall effort against the mayor. The complaint alleges that Roque’s son, Joseph Roque, was first able to compromise the email address for the ... read more ...
 
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Jeweler sues Oversee.net for cybersquatting - Jeweler files claim over six domain registrations. Jewelry company Tacori Enterprises has sued Oversee.net in U.S. District Court for cybersquatting. Tacori alleges (pdf) that Oversee.net is cybersquatting with at least six domain names: Taccori.com Tacorri.com Tacoriiv.com TacoriRings.com Tacoti.com Tracori.com Tacori alleges that Oversee.net “is a serial cybersquatter who registers, uses, and traffics in domain names that are confusingly similar to famous or distinctive ... read more ...
 
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Chicago Tribune wants to take down “Occupy” sites - Sites claim to be news for the 99%. [Update: the naysayers in the comments were correct: The Tribune Company lost the case.] The Chicago Tribune Company has filed a complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization over “occupy” web sites using its brand. The complaint targets occupiedchicagotribune.org and occupychicagotribune.org, the former of which is a web site that states “We’re proud to have no affiliation whatsoever with the 1% Chicago Tribune ... read more ...
Tue 22nd May 2012
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Judge Dismisses Facebook Vs Faceporn Case - Back in October 2010 we told you about a lawsuit for trademark infringement that Facebook filed against the site Faceporn.com Yesterday a federal court affirmed a lower courts order throwing the case out for “lack of personal jurisdiction” against the owner of Faceporn.com The owner of Faceporn  is Thomas Pedersen of Bergen, Norway. According to federal law for a nonresident defendant to be sued in the US they must be found commit an intentional act expressly aimed at the forum state and that ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Republicans emanate Cory Booker web sites - Republican National Committee registers Cory Booker domains and creates petition sites. Ever since Newark, New Jersey mayor and super-hero Cory Booker kinda-sorta-maybe got on the Obama campaign’s case for attacking Mitt Romney on his Bain record, Republicans everywhere have been rejoicing. That includes the Republican National Committee, which just registered the domain names IStandWithCory.com and IStandwithCoryBooker.com and has created a web site for them. ... read more ...
Mon 21st May 2012
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How NOT to name your association and secure your domain - When you know it’s time to select a different company name… A Colorado company just lost a UDRP for Qwizzle.com, and it’s a great example of botched company naming. The company, Qwizzle, LLC, knew that Qwizzle.com was taken when it came up with its name. It tried to contact the owner of Qwizzle.com but had no luck. It still decided to launch its business as Qwizzle but then filed a UDRP to try to get the domain name. It lost the UDRP because Qwizzle.com was ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Baylor Sucks (again) with BaylorSucks.com - Baylor University gets “sucks” domain back after letting it expire. It’s pretty easy to sit down here in Austin and say that Baylor sucks. You can get on its case for yanking a gay student’s scholarship. And for waiting until the 90s to lift a ban on dancing on campus. There’s also that little fact that the school is in Waco. (The one thing we can’t do any more is say that its sports programs suck.) But now the university is claiming a bit of suckiness ... read more ...
Fri 18th May 2012
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From a counsel UDRP mistakes file… - Don’t forget to prove earlier rights if you claim them. Publisher Hidden Values has lost a dispute over the domain name TriangleKidsDirectory.com. Hidden Values publishes the Kids’ Directory. It also has a registered trademark for KID’S DIRECTORY. It’s an admittedly weak mark. It’s even a concurrent use registration that is limited in geographic scope. But, the registrant of the domain name was a former licensee of Kids Directory and published the directory ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
BitTorrent files the possess egghead skill lawsuit - File sharing company files IP lawsuit over trademarks. BitTorrent (and especially its users) are familiar with intellectual property lawsuits. But usually they’re on the receiving end. Now the tables are turned. BitTorrent, Inc. has filed a federal lawsuit in California against BitTorrent Marketing GMBH for trademark infringement and cybersquatting. According to BitTorrent, Inc. founder Bram Cohen, he first became aware of the defendant when it contacted him in ... read more ...
Wed 16th May 2012
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UK insurer initial to remove .xxx dispute - Request for .xxx domain name denied. United Kingdom insurance company BGL Group Limited, better known as CompareTheMarket.com, is the first complainant to lose a UDRP for a .xxx domain name. The company filed the complaint against UK resident Jon Watkins, who registered the domain back in December when .xxx became generally available. But as I’ve argued previously, it can be rather difficult to prove bad faith in the registration of a .xxx domain name. Most complainants ... read more ...
Tue 15th May 2012
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Like we said, TAS problems doom Digital Archery - IPC questions ICANN’s ability to execute digital archery. Digital archery is doomed. The clever way ICANN plans to “batch” applications for new top level domains will either be killed, or it will be subject to accusations and lawsuits. Shortly after the bug in ICANN’s new TLD application system was revealed I wrote about how this was going to cast a shadow of doubt on digital archery. Then, as the number of applications slowly trickled out and delays mounted, ... read more ...
Fri 11th May 2012
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Marchex Wins UDRP On Norcross.com - A few weeks ago we told you a UDRP had been filed on the domain name Norcross.com. Norcross is a city in Georgia Today Marchex the domain holder represented by John Berryhill won a three member panel UDRP decision on the domain name. At the time we didn’t know who filed the UDRP but it was the Norcross Corporation who had a Trademark on the term Norcross since 1969 The decision contains a sentence all domainers should love: ““A domain name registrant is always permitted to sell a domain name ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Marchex successfully defends geo domain name in UDRP - Panel rules company can keep Norcross.com domain name. Marchex has successfully defended the domain name Norcross.com in a UDRP with the help of domain name attorney John Berryhill. Marchex acquired the domain when it bought Yun Ye’s Ultimate Search portfolio. Norcross is a suburb of Atlanta and the parked page at Norcross.com has shown links related to Georgia, hotels, etc. The complainant, Norcross Corporation, sells viscosity equipment. While I’ll applaud ... read more ...
Thu 10th May 2012
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ConnectedWorld.com UDRP challenged in court - Case filed in Arizona to halt transfer of domain name. A Texas man has filed a suit for declaratory and injunctive relief to halt the transfer of ConnectedWorld.com, a domain name he lost in a recent UDRP decision. In the suit (pdf), Jeffrey Smith claims he has been working on a social network for eldercare since 2008. When the domain name ConnectedWorld.com came up for auction last year, he paid $7,100 to acquire the domain name. Earlier this year, Specialty Publishing ... read more ...
 
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Google wants to obvious creation online ads social - Company files two patent applications for making online ads social. Google has filed two patent applications related to social interactions with online advertisements. The applications, 20120116871 and 20120116867 (pdf), were filed in November and just published today. Both are titled “Social Overlays On Ads”. The patent applications describe systems in which social overlays are placed on ads. For example, an ad my show how many people in your particular Google+ ... read more ...