District Court Denies Motion to Dismiss on Reverse Domain Name Hijacking Claim — Airfx.com v. AirFX LLC
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Airfx.com v. AirFX LLC, 11-01064 (D. Ariz.; Oct. 20, 2011). See also the UDRP ruling, AirFX, LLC v. ATTN AIRFX.COM, Claim Number FA1104001384655 (NAF May 16, 2011). Lurie is an indoor skydiving…
Q3 2011 Quick Links, Part 2 (Trademarks/Domain Names Edition)
By Eric Goldman * In the Betty Boop case (Fleischer Studios v. AVELA), the Ninth Circuit stepped back from some of its perplexing language about aesthetic functionality and the Dastar opinion, but the revised opinion remains confusing. Rebecca’s coverage. *…
GoDaddy Mismanages Its User Agreements–Crabb v. GoDaddy
By Eric Goldman Crabb v. GoDaddy.com, Inc., 2:10-cv-00940-NVW (D. Ariz. Sept. 27, 2011) As online user agreements become longer and more byzantine, it’s become common for a “master” user agreement to incorporate numerous other documents by reference. For example, stylistically,…
Re-registration of Domain Name is not a “Registration” Under the ACPA — GoPets Ltd. v. Hise
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] GoPets Ltd. v. Hise, 08-56110; 08-56112 (9th Cir. Sept. 22, 2011) Although Eric is not a big fan of them, the Ninth Circuit has produced a slew of domain name opinions this year. GoPets Ltd. v….
Copyright Preempts State Tort Claims Over Loss of Control Over Website — 78th Infantry Div. v. Oprendek
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] 78th Infantry Division, WWII Living History Ass’n v. Oprendek, 11-165 (D.N.J.; Aug 4, 2011) This is another web vendor dispute. Professor Goldman posted about one earlier this week. As in that case, here the parties did…
Marijuana Activist Can’t Change His Name to “NJWeedman.com” — In re Forchion
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with additional comments by guest blogger Laura Heymann and Eric] [Eric’s note: this may be our first post with *three* different bloggers covering the same case! Venkat starts us off:] In re Robert Edward Forchion, Jr.,…
Levi Strauss’s Trademark and Domain Name Claims May Block Unauthorized Resales — Levi Strauss v. Papikian
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Levi Strauss & Co v. Papikian Enterprises, C 10-05051 JSW (N.D. Cal.; Aug. 24, 2011) [pdf] Facts: Levi Strauss owns trademarks for “Levi’s,” “501” and other terms. It sells its products directly and to authorized retailers…
Ninth Circuit Reconsiders SEO-Destroying Injunction Against DMV.Org–TrafficSchool v. EDriver (Joint Blog Post)
By Rebecca Tushnet and Eric Goldman TrafficSchool.com, Inc. v. Edriver Inc., 2011 WL 3198226 (9th Cir. July 28, 2011) [Over the years, Rebecca and I have blogged dozens of the same cases. However, we’ve never done a joint blog post…
June 2011 Quick Links, Part 1 (Copyright & Trademark Edition)
By Eric Goldman Copyright * Good news: the US government is funding alternative networks that dissidents can use to communicate when the Internet is censored by repressive regimes. Bad news: the US government is teaching the rest of the world…
Ohio Appeals Court: GoDaddy can be Held Liable for Wrongly Transferring Control Over Domain Name and Email Accounts — Eysoldt v. ProScan
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Eysoldt v. GoDaddy, et al., C-100528 (Ohio Ct. App.; May 18, 2011) Actions against registrars for allowing domain names to be wrongly transferred have been relatively rare. Members of the Eysoldt family brought claims against GoDaddy…