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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) registered the domain name ringlingbrothers.com to host a protest site, pointing out the circus’ mistreatment of animals. Ringling Brothers have filed trademark infringement lawsuits against the group.…
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Playboy Enterprises filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against former Playmate of the Year, Terri Welles, who used terms like “playmate’ in her online resume and meta tags, which Playboy argued were trademarked terms. US District Judge Judith Keep ruled in favor of Welles, claiming fair use to the words.…
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In Pennsylvania, Christopher Van Allen, a 12 year old boy who had been given the nickname ‘Pokey’ when he was younger, had received the domain name pokey.org as a birthday gift. Shortly after that, Prema Toy Company filed a lawsuit against him to win the domain back claiming that the …
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As federal judges in two recent rulings set precedence against the practice of cybersquatting, some trademark attorneys say the courts have turned a bad situation worse. The 1995 dilution statute permits using a domain name that resembles a trademark to harm a company’s trademark reputation. For example, using ‘barney.com’ to …
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24 country music stars formed a coalition to file a lawsuit against Jim Salmon, who had bought domain names containing the names of famous stars and pointed many of them to the porn site whitehouse.com. Salmon claimed he was upset by the whitehouse.com site and was trying to raise public …
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Stephen Brodsky, owner of jewsforjesus.org, lost his domain to the Jews for Jesus organization, an Evangelical Christian organization, in a lawsuit. The organization claimed that Brodsky had diverted people from their website to a website that criticizes their efforts.…
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In a recent policy change, Network Solutions has announced that they will have the right to transfer domains to and from registrants, at their own discretions, when the domain name involves a trademark dispute. Every trademark attorney available for comment (except those working for Network Solutions) shows distaste for the …
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The Church of Scientology recently threatened to sue two websites containing what they call ‘trademarked’ content. Trademark attorneys doubt Scientology’s standing. Especially since both sites were parody’s of the religion.…
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When visitors arrived at oreos.com, instead of finding the story of the world’s best cookie, they instead found a collection of links to various adult websites. Nabisco, who was late in registering the domain, decided to take their name back. They sent a strong cease and desist letter to the …
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The Academy of Motion Pictures dropped its pending lawsuit against Network Solutions for registering domain names that play off the popular terms ‘Academy Awards’ and ‘Oscar’. During the case, Network Solutions argued that they are not required by law to screen domain registrations for potential trademark infringement. The ruling stated …
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In a recent ruling from the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals, someone publishing a website from Florida may not be called to Arizona for a trademark infringement trial. The case involved two consulting companies, both calling themselves “Cybersell”. One owned the domain name CyberSell.com, while the other wanted it.…
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A federal judge ruled in favor of Network Solutions in a suit launched by an individual claiming the domain registry had sold their trademarked domain names to unauthorized companies.…
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Microsoft sent legal warnings to a Windows informational site, windows.net, which helps users configure their windows programs correctly. The legal letters informed the windows.net site owner that he has infringed on their trademark.…
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A one-man online operation was recently ordered to attend court hearings in another state in the suit filed by the Hasbro toy company for trademark infringement in the use of the name Clue.com. The non-competitive company owner thought it was unfair, but the Federal judge in Boston believed that since …
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The compassion.com website owner is being sued by another charity organization, Compassion International, in an ironic trademark infringement battle. Compassion.com matches charities with potential donors, while Compassion International is a Christian missionary charity that claims a trademark on the word ‘compassion’.…
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By Victor Arcuri, Arvic Search Services
The principle for registration of domain names has been till now first come, …
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Sprint has decided to fight for the domain name Spree.com, asking its current owners to turn it over after infringing on their trademark. Sprint was granted the trademark Spree for its prepaid phone card service. The Spree.com website is currently a non-competitive shopping site and owners claim that Sprint acquiring …
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Microsoft recently sent out letters to companies using the letters ‘NT’ in their company names, websites, and products. Microsoft claims that the letters NT are a trademarked product name of Microsoft, but trademarks have only been filed for ‘Windows NT’.…
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Cyber Promotions, Inc., an email marketing company most known for spamming, is currently in the middle of a trademark dispute with Hormel over the use of the world “spam”. Hormel demanded that Cyber Promotions stop using the word ‘spam’ in their domain spamford.com, but the company rejected this request.…
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A college student has gone on a domain registering spree, registering a large number of domain names in the software giant’s name. Many of these names are related to Microsoft products, which looks to land him in a trademark dispute. Additionally, he registered a number of porn related domains names …
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First year law student, Barry Edwards, is learning more about his future career than he planned. Edwards registered the domain nyu-law.com and is currently entangled in a trademark infringement case with his law school. Upon seeing the registered name, the university asked Edwards to cease and desist.…
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Planned Parenthood, a non-profit organization for reproductive health, won a domain trademark dispute against Richard Bucci, the plannedparenthood.com registrant who falsely claimed that his website was the official planned parenthood website.…
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The line between domain names and trademark infringement has blurred as the Internet grows. In a recent case, Toys ‘R’ Us filed a suit against an adult website, Adults ‘R’ Us, claiming that it tarnished their wholesome image. The site was ordered to shut down by a judge. With the …
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CMG Worldwide, the company that oversees Marilyn Monroe’s estate, reports that it is close to a settlement with Marilyn Monroe Western Limited, the company currently utilizing the marilynmonroe.com domain name. CMG attorney, Ted Minch, mentioned that Western Limited would need to rename their website.…
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Richard Schiff registered thenewyorker.com for his startup company, but soon received a cease and desist letter from The New Yorker Magazine. All across the Internet, big companies are bullying small businesses and individual registrants based on trademark infringement. According to an intellectual law professor, “people are rolling over left and …
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