Intellectual Property

So far, Microsoft’s new Bing search engine has been relatively successful. Now, a St. Louis design firm named Bing Information Design is suing the Redmond company for causing confusion regarding the relationship between the two companies. The St. Louis Bing has had a trademark on “Bing” for quite some time …

With all the talk in the news of golf master Tiger Woods lusting after mistresses, cybersquatters have been lusting after domains bearing his name. Dozens of domains and sites related to the scandal are up for sale on eBay, including: TigersHarem.com TigerGotWood.com TigersLitter.com TigerTexts.com One cybersquatter declared: Tiger Woods and …

Dell recently won a domain dispute it submitted to the National Arbitration Forum over the following names: dellgaming.com, dellvideogames.com, dellvideogaming.com, and dellconsole.com. Naturally, Dell complained that the above names violated its trademark. It also accused the registrant, Patrick McDonough, of using them in bad faith because of a number of …

Domain appraisal site Valuate.com has a new feature this week: built-in trademark checking. The tool will now check any domain for trademarked company names. Given the number of people who register a trademark without realizing it and then run into legal problems down the road, I think the feature is …

Coca-Cola has won rockncoke.net in a domain name arbitration case at the WIPO. The beverage company claimed the domain was confusing similar to its trademark and used in bad faith. The panel responsible for the ruling also believes that the registrant intended to sell the name to Coca-Cola and turn …

Given the large number of domain extensions out there, it’s nearly impossible for companies to register a domain on each one for all their products. This explains why Apple recently filed a dispute over the name itunes.com.mx, which had been registered several years earlier by a cybersquatter. Naturally, Apple won …

Several months ago, New Jersey police arrested alleged domain hijacker Daniel Goncalves. He is suspected of stealing the domain P2P.com, which he sold on eBay for $111,000 USD, from a group of three owners. Yesterday, the state’s technology crime unit hit Goncalves with a seven-count grand jury indictment. The charges …

Analysis done by blog Domain Name Wire shows that cybersquatting is at an all-time low. The site took a look at the number of Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) filings for .com domains. It found that despite an increase in the quantity of registrations, the number of disputes …

Janet Jackson has won a domain dispute submitted by her representative, Stephen J. Strauss, to the National Arbitration Forum. The name in question is rhythmnation1814.com, which she claims violated her trademark on the album name “Rhythm Nation 1814.” The arbitration panel ordered the name be transferred to Jackson. It is …

Delta Airlines won a dispute over the domain delta-tickets.com at the WIPO last week. The name was originally registered by Jannie Blazek, a citizen of the Czech Republic. The one-person arbitration panel sided with Delta, agreeing with the airline that the domain was being used in bad faith. According to …