Tag Archives: legal

Wed 14th September 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Owner of Screams.com Sues to Halt Transfer - Haunted house files suit to stop transfer and asks that trademark be canceled. The owner of the domain name Screams.com has filed a lawsuit (pdf) to halt the imminent transfer of his domain name following an adverse UDRP ruling. Last week I wrote about how Screams.com owner Cutting Edge Haunted House in Fort Worth, Texas, lost a UDRP to another haunted house in the area. Cutting Edge registered the domain name 14 years before the UDRP case was filed. In addition to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
“Book” + Social Networking = Trademark Delay - Facebook asks trademark office for more time to oppose trademarks. If you want the U.S. Patent and Trademark office to approve a trademark for your social networking site that includes the word “book”, you can expect a challenge. That’s because Facebook is repeatedly filing requests with the trademark office to extend the time it has to oppose for good cause these trademark registrations. For example, there’s dart player social network Dartbook. Facebook filed ... read more ...
Tue 13th September 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
WTF? Acorn.tv mislaid in UDRP. - Hold on tight to your generic .tv domains! Sometimes I read UDRP decisions and just start shaking my head. That’s the case with Acorn.tv. Keep in mind that UDRP was created for clear cut cases of cybersquatting. Acorn.tv is not a clear cut case of cybersquatting and should have remained with the owner. Acorn Media Group, Inc, which filed the complaint, makes home video products. That apparently means that anything with “acorn” and the .tv extension belongs to ... read more ...
Mon 12th September 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Does Rugby Deserve WorldCup2011.com? - Is it fair to give this domain name to a Rugby organization despite its use? [Update: Rugby lost the cast for the reasons I suggested here.] Rugby World Cup Limited has filed a complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization to get the domain name WorldCup2011.com. Of course there are a lot of “World Cup” tournaments going on this year. There was the FIFA Women’s World Cup, ICC Cricket World Cup, and even the Federation of International Touch World ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Dallas Mavericks Star Dirk Nowitzki Wins Dispute Over Domain Name - Dirk Nowitzki wins case against creator of icon of his likeness. Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki has won a dispute against a company that used DirkSwish.com to sell memorabilia of his likeness. Dallas based Happy Bulldawg Entertainment, which says it created the “Legendary Icon” of Dirk Nowitzki (seen here on a Sports Illustrated cover), registered DirkSwish.com on May 28, 2011. The company says it registered it to create a fan site in honor of Nowitzki. Yet ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Trademark Holders Go to 93-1 in .Co Disputes - .Co domain name disputes almost always found in favor of complainant. Filers of UDRP cases against .co domain names are now 93-1 at World Intellectual Property Organization. These cases have all been filed since .co was relaunched last year. I’ve counted “terminated” cases as wins for the complainant since an amicable transfer is the typical reason for a case to be terminated. This doesn’t include numbers for National Arbitration Forum cases since that group ... read more ...
Sat 10th September 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Another TLD Frontrunner Joins Game with .Hawaii, .Fish, and More - What Box? Holdings files four trademark applications for top level domains. I’ve written numerous times about people applying for trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office for new top level domain names. Here’s the latest entrant into the frontrunning game: Beverly Hills company What Box? Holdings, LLC. The company just filed applications for .Hawaii, .Foundation, .Fish, and .Charter. Of course the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office won’t grant a trademark ... read more ...
Fri 9th September 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Movie Studio Of The Twilight Series Sues Twilight.com For Trademark Infringement (A Domain Registered in 1994) - According to various sources, The studio behind the “Twilight” series, Summit Entertainment,  filed suit in Federal court against the owner of Twilight.com and its owner. The studio is suing for copyright and trademark infringement and demanding gains, profits and advantages from the defendant. The complaint was filed against Tom Marskon, and TM Consulting, in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California on Sept. 2. According to the lawsuit: “Summit learned that defendant is using ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Garry Chernoff Beats AutoTrader in Domain Dispute - AutoTrader.com fails to win AutoTrade.com. Long time domain name investor Garry Chernoff has successfully defended a case brought against his AutoTrade.com domain name by AutoTrader. The case was defended by John Berryhill. Chernoff registered the domain name in 1998 based on the generic term “auto trade”. This was prior to AutoTrader publishing its web sit; it was a print publication at the time. The majority including panelist Alfred Meijboom and The Hon Neil ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tucows Wins Another Surname UDRP - Another win but panel makes an error. Tucows has successfully defended another one of the domains in the surname portfolio it acquired in 2006. Marden Group B.V. filed the case over the domain name Marden.com. According to the complaint, Marden wasn’t even founded until 2008 (or at least didn’t file for a trademark until then), some 12 years after Marden.com was registered. Among Marden’s somewhat incredible claims, as written in the panel decision: As surnames ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Doppelganger Domains. Oh, My. - Research sheds light on email security from domain name typos. A new research report about typosquatting is making waves on mainstream web sites today. The report covers what researchers at “Information Security Think Tank” Godai Group call Doppelganger Domains. I’ve never heard the term doppelganger applied to domain names before, but the group uses the term to label domain names that are missing a dot. For example, a doppelganger of us.ibm.com would be usibm.com. The ... read more ...
Thu 8th September 2011
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Despite Facebook File Massive Cybersqautting Lawsuit People Are Bidding On Typos As Facebopok.com Sells For $2K - It was just a few weeks ago that Facebook filed a massive Cybersquatting lawsuit against 25 named companies and individuals   over 100 “john Doe’s” for $100K for each domain name and damages and all the money generated by the typo’s. So yesterday I was pretty surprised to see another typo Facebopok.com sell on SnapNames.com on an expired domain name auction for $1,999. There were actually 5 people battling it out from $1k+, with the lucky winner having the handle of “latarioni”. The ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Vampires Fight Over Upcoming Twilight: Breaking Dawn Movie Domain - Domain names an issue for upcoming movie release. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 is coming to theaters this November. But before vampires duke it out on screen, a fight has already broken out over the film’s domain name: the creators have filed a complaint against the owner of BreakingDawnTheMovie.com in an effort to get the domain name. The complaint was filed with National Arbitration Forum. Movie studios often add “themovie” to the end of titles ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
NameMedia Sends “School Webmasters” Back to School - Arizona company loses domain name dispute over SchoolWebmaster.com. NameMedia, which runs domain name marketplaces Afternic and BuyDomains, has taught the owner of SchoolWebmasters.com a lesson. ScribeWrite, LLC operates as School Webmasters (schoolwebmasters.com), which provides web site services to schools and teachers. It filed a complaint with National Arbitration Forum in July, asking for it to award the domain name SchoolWebmaster.com (singular) to it. NameMedia ... read more ...
Wed 7th September 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Warning: Retargeted Ads a New Way for Trademark Holders to Go After Your Domains - Think your site doesn’t show ads related to a trademark? Think again. Have you ever noticed a Google Adsense ad that seems to have nothing to do with the context of the page you’re viewing? These are retargeted ads based on your previous web browsing. These ads may prove to be a new way for trademark owners to claim that your web site was designed to infringe on their marks. For years, trademark owners have manipulated the results on parked domain names to show ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Guy Sues Alamo Car Rental After Losing UDRP - Man in the home of the Alamo sues after losing UDRP for Alamo domain name. A San Antonio man has sued Vanguard Trademark Holdings USA LLC, which manages the Alamo car rental trademarks, after losing a UDRP for the domain name AlamoClub.com. John K. Rivenburgh found himself on the losing end of a decision handed down by National Arbitration Forum panelist Maninder Singh. If you read the complaint, you’ll find Rivenburgh’s claimed use of the domain rather plausible. ... read more ...
Tue 6th September 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
University of Michigan Needs to Go Back to Law School - University loses case against alleged phishing web site. The Regents of the University of Michigan have failed to take control of two domain names in a poorly argued UDRP case. The university filed the claim to get control of SurveyResearchCenter.com and SurveyClaim.com, the latter of which it alleged is a phishing web site. It claimed that it established the Survey Research Center in 1946. The panel granted that the SurveyResearchCenter.com domain name is confusingly ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Yahoo Upset About X-Rated Flickr Sites - Company files complaint over sites that use its Flickr brand. Yahoo has turned to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to help it shut down two X-rated sites that use Flickr in their domain names. The company filed the complaint with WIPO over the domain names nastyflickr.com and nudeflickr.com, each of which lead to a web site containing adult photos. They each contain a logo that looks similar to the Flickr blue and red logo as well. They are owned ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Ready to Scream? After 14 Years, Guy Loses Screams.com in UDRP - Haunted house owner must transfer domain name to competitor. The owner of screams.com has lost his domain name thanks to a ruling by a National Arbitration Forum panelist. The owner of Cutting Edge Haunted House in Fort Worth, Texas registered Screams.com all the way back in 1997. The complainant has operated the Screams Halloween Theme Park, located in nearby Waxahachie, Texas, since 1996. Even though “screams” is generic, I can certainly understand how the ... read more ...
Fri 2nd September 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Pssst… “Got Milk?” is a Trademark - Don’t mess around with the Got Milk slogan. Got Milk? This slogan has become such a cultural mainstay that we see variations of it all the time. But what many people don’t realize is that it’s trademarked. California Milk Processor Board has multiple trademarks to the slogan and related slogans. That’s a lesson that one punk rock band learned the hard way. The band called “GotMilk” needs to find a new name. The California Milk Processor Board just won ... read more ...
Tue 30th August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Walgreens Needs Pain Killers After UDRP Decision - Panelist rules against drugstore. Drug store chain Walgreen might need some Advil after reading a recent decision handed down by National Arbitration Forum. A single member panel ruled that Indian company Walgreens Realty International can keep the domain names walgreenstravels.com and walgreensholidays.com. At the time Walgreen filed the complaint there were merely parked pages at the domain names. The respondent created simple web sites on the domains after receiving ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
TiVo Loses Trademark Case to Guy Named TiVo - TiVo, meet TiVo. DVR company TiVo certainly has a trademark to the term “TiVo”, but it may have found its match: a band member who goes by the nickname “Tivo”. Rocker Majan Fernandez Primitivo goes by the stage name “Tivo” for his acts, taking the last four letters of his last name. He registered Tivo.es to promote himself. That didn’t sit well with the DVR maker, who filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization to get the domain ... read more ...
Fri 26th August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
French Company Files UDRP Against Google’s AdWords.com - Company that was subject to Google UDRP fights back. French company Francotel, LLC has filed a UDRP complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over the domain name Adwords.com, Domain Name Wire has learned. The case is not yet posted on WIPO’s web site. Francotel has a French trademark for “Adwords”. It filed to cancel Google’s European Union trademark for “Adwords” earlier this year but lost the case. Google filed a UDRP against ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Judge Dismisses Many of Monte Cahn’s Claims Against Oversee.net - Judge sides with Oversee.net’s Motion to Dismiss. Oversee.net got a big win today in a lawsuit filed by former employee Monte Cahn. The judge granted Oversee.net’s Motion to Dismiss (pdf) five claims ranging from Intentional and Negligent Misrepresentation to Unfair Competition. Oversee.net has argued that the case is merely a breach of contract case. When it filed the motion to dismiss, its lawyers wrote that the case “is nothing more than an alleged breach ... read more ...
Tue 23rd August 2011
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Facebook Close to Settling Long Running Dispute Over “FB” - Facebook and American Farm Bureau may be close to settling FB trademark dispute. Facebook is getting close to settling a trademark dispute with American Farm Bureau over the mark “FB”. It all comes down to one sentence. The intriguing dispute started when Facebook filed a trademark application for “FB”. American Farm Bureau, a lobbying group for the agriculture industry, initiating proceedings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reject the trademark. During ... read more ...