Intellectual Property

Tech giant Microsoft won a dispute filed with the National Arbitration Forum over the domain bingnews.org this week. The company alleged that the name, which was registered by Prabhjot Singh, violated the trademark of its Bing search engine. Microsoft won the case because of its trademark on “Bing” and because …

When NBA star Chris Bosh sued cybersquatter Luis Zavala over the domain Hoopology.com, the judge awarded him the name plus $120,000 in damages. Because of Zavala’s likely inability to pay the judgment, however, the judge has handed over his entire domain portfolio to Bosh. It consists of some 800 sports …

Universally-recognized travel site Travelocity.com won a dispute this week filed with the National Arbitration Forum over the domain tavelocity.com. The company famous for its gnone claimed the name was confusingly similar to its own brand and won the case. In the domain industry, registering a name like tavelocity.com is known …

Despite working for years to design its iPad tablet, Apple failed to register any domains related to the new product. It doesn’t own iPad.net, iPad.eu, iPad.de, or even iPad.com. What was the Cupertino company, which has filed trademark-related disputes over numerous domains in the past, thinking? Without owning at least …

In yet another domain dispute victory for Google, the WIPO has ruled against a cybersquatter and in favour of theMountain View company in a case involving the domain googlenetbiz.com. As is generally the norm, Google contended that the domain violated its trademark and that it was being used in bad …

Hewlett-Packard recently won a dispute filed with the National Arbitration Forum over the domain hpserver.com. HP, a company well known for its IT equipment, argued that the domain violated some of its many trademarks. In addition, the company claimed the registrant was using the name in bad faith, advertising competitors …

Data collected from a number of arbitration panels, including the WIPO and National Arbitration Forum, show that cybersquatting may be on the decline. Last year saw a 9% decline in the number of cybersquatting cases filed overall, a three-year low. Unfortunately, this decrease does not necessarily mean the number of …

Clothing retailer Lacoste won the domain lacostebuy.com in a recent dispute it filed with the WIPO. The name was used by a Chinese citizen, Liu Dong Ping, to sell counterfeit merchandise. For this reason and because of trademark infringement, Lacoste requested that it be given ownership of the name. In …

The Russian division of business periodical Forbes has won a dispute over the name Forbes.ru. In addition to the name, a Moscow arbitration court has awarded the company $300,000 USD in damages. This is the largest compensation ever awarded to an American company in a Russian court case. Because Forbes …

Goodwill Industries, an American non-profit charity, has dropped a lawsuit filed against company Cyber2Media over the domain Goodwill.com. Cyber2Media acquired the same at auction for$55,978 several months ago when the owner, a Japanese staffing company, allowed it to expire. The company parked the name and displayed charity-related PPC ads. Claiming, …