Warner Bros. fails to gank domain for The Gangster Squad movie - Arbitration panel rules against movie studio for domain for upcoming film release. Warner Bros. is releasing The Gangster Squad, starring Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, this coming October. But it’s missing a key ingredient: the domain name TheGangsterSquad.com. The movie studio filed a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum to try to get the domain name but failed to show trademark rights in the domain. The history of the name is actually quite ... read more ...

If You Use Facebook You Agree That They Own A Trademark To The Terms Face, Book and Wall - Anytime you use Facebook you agree to follow its User Agreement. As Wired.com pointed out in Facebook’s newly revised version of its “Statement of Rights and Responsibilities,” users agree that Facebook has common law trademark rights over the term “”book”  and agree not to use any “confusingly similar marks, without our written permission” Under the current Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, anytime you use Facebook you agree that: “You will not use our copyrights or trademarks ... read more ...

iPad box builder TheSnugg.com loses dead-on-arrival domain dispute - Company filed trademark application last year; domain was registered in 1999. iPad case maker TheSnugg.com just wasted some money in a domain dispute. It filed a case against the owner of Snugg.com. You’ll get a chuckle out of the company’s contentions in its UDRP complaint: 2. Complainant registered the SNUGG mark (Reg. No. 4,075,899 filed May 17, 2011; registered December 27, 2011) through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”); 3. ... read more ...

Francois Carrillo’s ZUT.com strike with UDRP - Another day, another UDRP on a three letter domain name. Sadly, this isn’t an April Fools’ joke. Francois Carrillo, who runs Domaining.com, has just been hit with a UDRP for the domain name Zut.com. The complainant is Interbasic Holding S.A., which has a perfume line called Zut. I think the defense should be pretty straightforward for Carrillo. After all, the guy runs an auction site dedicated solely to three and four letter domain names like zut.com, jef.com, ... read more ...

We Beat Back Sony’s Attempt to Register A Trademark On A Domain We Own; Move.me - We just took on one of the biggest company’s in the world and won. We acquired the domain name Move.me, in a auction by the .me registry on Sedo.com in November 2010. Sony launched it product fits called Move.me, for its PlayStation 3 in January 2011 Sony filed for a trademark on term Move.me in February 2011. We hired Erika L. Hengst, Esq,  the wife of domain developer Sean Sullivan, to object to the trademark. Now several months after filing our objection, Sony this week, dropped their application ... read more ...

Juilliard successful in take down try of fraud web site - Juilliard.me to be transferred to performing arts school. The famous Juilliard School for performing arts in New York City has used World Intellectual Property Organization to take down a web site that it says was falsely accepting donations. The action was filed against Juilliard.me, which is registered to a Cambridge, Massachusetts man. If you look at the site now, you’ll see this: But according to Juilliard’s complaint, the site previously offered “Google ... read more ...

Two Texas universities win .xxx domain disputes - Triple-X domains to be transferred to Texas universities in two separate arbitration proceedings. Two Texas universities have won arbitration disputes over the new .xxx domain names. The University of Texas System won a case for UTsystem.xxx and Baylor University won a case for BaylorGirls.xxx. Both organizations filed their complaints with the National Arbitration Forum. UTSystem.xxx got the attention of The University in part thanks to the domain owner forwarding ... read more ...

Apple files censure over iTunes.net - Company requests transfer of domain name. [Update: Apple won the case.] Apple has filed a complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization over the iTunes.net domain name. The domain has long been a parked domain name with links related to downloading music, so it’s not clear to me why the company is suddenly making a move for the domain name. The current parked page has links exclusively about MP3, iPhones, iPod, and downloading music. The current registration ... read more ...

UPDATE In Kentucky Domain Name Case: Judge Orders Verisign to Transfer 132 Seized Domain Names To Kentucky - There has been an update in the Kentucky domain name seizure case and its not a good one. This week the original judge in the matter issued another forfeiture order on 132 domain names, this time not directed just to the registrars but to the registry, Verisign. You might remember in the original case, the Judge ordered the registrars, not the registry, to turn the domain names over to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Some registrars reportedly complied with the order but many did not. For the record, ... read more ...

As new domains like .nyc get announced, watch out for fraudulent web sites like this one - Be careful about sites for new TLDs. Yesterday Information Week reported that Neustar will be running the .nyc domain name when it launches. As definitive news about new top level domains starts hitting the web, people should be careful about misleading web sites promoting the domains. Here’s one example: NYCDomain.org. The domain, owned by a Utah man, is all about the .nyc domain name. And that’s fine. What’s misleading is the description tag — the thing ... read more ...

Facebook registers a garland of domains though a plan creates no sense - Company appears to be registering previously expired domains, but isn’t picking up some obvious domains. Facebook registered at least 22 domain names yesterday, many of them typos of Facebook. But the strategy is perplexing. Here’s the list: betafacebook.info facboox.com facebocke.com facebof.com facebokcasino.com facebookcredets.com facebookkcredits.com facebooklinker.com facebookpeople.info facebooksight.com facebooon.com facebooor.com faceebot.com faicbooc.com faseboox.com faxcebool.com faxehook.com feook.com photosonfacebook.info wwwfaceboil.com wwwfacebppk.com wwwfeibook.com So ... read more ...

Ari Goldberger Beats Back UDRP On UTV.com - Ari Goldberger beat back a UDRP on the domain name UTV.com brought by UTV Limited of Belfast Here are the relevant facts and findings of the three member panel: The Complainant was formed in November 1958 as Programme Contractor for Northern Ireland and was incorporated as Ulster Television in 1959. It has been broadcasting television and radio in Northern Ireland since October 1959. As such the Complainant is the TV arm of UTV Media plc, which is a media company in United Kingdom and Ireland incorporating ... read more ...

Abbott Labs registers over 500 domains for AbbVie spinoff, palm registers code domain - Abbott Labs paid the normal registration fee for its new brand domain, but gets defensive with hundreds of registrations. How much did Abbott Labs, a $95 billion market cap company, pay to get the domain name for its spinoff pharmaceuticals unit? About $10. The company was able to freely register AbbVie.com on February 28. So it paid whatever CSC charges for a standard domain registration. This is unusual — large companies usually have to buy existing domains for ... read more ...

Hot gossip: media association final GossipGirl.com domain name - Alloy Entertainment wants the GossipGirl.com domain name. Alloy Entertainment, the company behind the Gossip Girl books and TV show on CW, has filed a complaint to get the domain name GossipGirl.com. The complaint was filed with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) under the uniform domain name dispute resolution policy (UDRP). The domain name was originally registered in 2004 1998. It expired earlier this year, and was then registered by someone in Greenville, ... read more ...

Facebook complains about developer domain - Company asks for FacebookDeveloper.com domain to be transferred to it. Facebook has filed a complaint with National Arbitration Forum about the domain name FacebookDeveloper.com. The domain name was registered back in August 2006, so it’s interesting that Facebook waited until now to file a complaint in an effort to get the domain. However, the domain’s ownership did just change hands — transferring from “Jeeves Media Group” in the Netherlands to “macausite” ... read more ...

ICANN: We’re relocating brazen with straight integration - ICANN posts update on vertical integration. ICANN just posted an update (pdf) to the issue of “vertical integration” between registries and registrars. At issue is whether a registry, such as Afilias or VeriSign, can also own a domain registrar, such as GoDaddy. ICANN has been fairly quiet on the issue despite the window for applying for new TLDs coming to a close next month. But it just posted a letter in response to an inquiry from the GNSO Registry Stakeholder ... read more ...

UDRP panelist decides box notwithstanding tentative authorised action - Panelist decides to render his opinion even though it will be ignored. Earlier today I wrote about Nominet’s Dispute Resolution Service for .uk domain names, and how the registry wants it to be the “final say” on domain disputes for .uk domain names. UDRP, the arbitration mechanism for a number of top level domain names including .com, is different. It’s meant to be a fast way to resolve clear cut cases of cybersquatting. When a domain is ordered transferred, ... read more ...

Elk.com and INW.com strike with UDRPs - Two three letter .com domains have been hit with UDRP filings. Australian fashion accessories company ELK Accessories Pty Ltd. has filed a UDRP case in an effort to get the domain name Elk.com. The company’s web site is elkaccessories.com.au. Since this seems like such a long shot attempt to snag a three letter domain name (that is also a word), I assumed the whois history for this domain would show that perhaps the company used to own it and it was stolen. But ... read more ...

Google files obvious app for organisation buying - Application for “online marketplace” describes group buying system. Long before Groupon took the idea of group buying of services and gift certificates mainstream, many people have tried group buying for physical goods. Remember Mercata, which shut down in the .com bust? Now Google has filed a patent application for an “online marketplace”, which is effectively a group buying marketplace. The application (12/876725) was filed in 2010 but just published by ... read more ...

ICANN releases checklist for domain seizures - Non-profit releases paper explaining considerations and parties involved with domain seizures. Citing increased domain seizures and take downs due to criminal activity, the ICANN Security Team has released a paper explaining the process and considerations for complainants when trying to take down a domain name. The paper (pdf) is meant as a technical document as opposed to a legal document. It explains that there are various players involved in maintaining a domain ... read more ...

Paul Keating gets solitary win in Auto-Owners cases - Panel rules that AutoOwner.com registrant can keep domain name. In January I wrote about how Auto-Owners Insurance filed four UDRP cases against owners of domain names it said infringed its mark. The first two decided cases went in favor of the insurance company, but domain attorney Paul Keating has reversed that trend. Keating successfully defended the registrant of AutoOwner.com. The panel found that the insurance company didn’t show registration and use in bad ... read more ...

British Court Says ISP Have To Pay 25% Of Costs Identifying & Running Appeals Board For File Sharers - According to the  guardian.co.uk,  A U.K. Court of Appeals has held that ISPs will need to pay 25% of costs associated with establishing and running an appeals body for alleged file sharers. “ISPs will now be forced to pay 25 percent of all “qualifying” costs related to establishing and operating an appeals body for alleged file sharers and pay 25% of costs related to identifying alleged file sharers. “Ofcom, a U.K.-based communications regulator, will pay the remaining 75 percent of the ... read more ...