Verizon awarded $33 million judgement against registrar OnlineNIC

[INVIGOR]

I wonder if Verizon will go after Sprint next, as they seem to own Vagizon.com...

Now that's interesting.

 

[denny007]

When a defendant fails to appear in a lawsuit, the plaintiff still needs to argue his case before the Judge

They do ?

they also need to justify the dollar amount.

Well if they justified this default then is still pretty much what I said

 

[Clayton]

I wonder if Verizon will go after Sprint next, as they seem to own Vagizon.com...

That smells like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Good thing I switched away from sprint as Verizon may own them soon :lol:

 

[Focus]

Vagizon is not a typo of verizon......not even close...nothing they can say or do on that one kids....

 

[petrosc]

I always thought is Iran...

They were awarded that imho because they did not respond so it must have been default judgement. Some short letter to judge would have dismissed it. Funny is now Verizon lawyers will get percentage from that judgement although thosed money are 100% unrecoverable. If they are on 25% they just got themself 8.5 million for couple of hours work. INteresting how lawyers are screwing companies more than anyone else.

Denny why are those funds unrecoverable?

 

[draggar]

I wonder if Verizon will go after Sprint next, as they seem to own Vagizon.com...

While I don' think that will happen it wouldn't surprise me. Verizon actively goes out and sues anyone with a Verizon domain. They even went after VerizonSucks.com ( http://whois.domaintools.com/verizonsucks.com ) and several other similar sites. For a while, several years ago, they were extremely aggressive in regards to domains and got some bad PR about it.

My main question is - who's to decide if a name is a TM or not? Sure, MicrosoftSupport.tld would be an obvious case but what about similar names? I have a domain that would be one letter dropped and an "S" added to the end of a very popular MS product but is exactly like Doc Com's example (MaineBays.com)? Would they decide these names are TMs and drop us becasue of it?

Would Stallmart be dropped because it is similar to Wallmart, even if they sold bathrooms?

How about the DogDishNetwork (a directory promoting sellers of pet food and pet supplies including dishes)? Would it be dropped because of Dish Network?

There are so many domains out there that could be a TM issue but aren't being used as such because of a generic being used?

 

[stuff]

Denny why are those funds unrecoverable?

all money (assets) are in China...
only accredited in US.
So another worthless judgment

 

[INVIGOR]

Sure, MicrosoftSupport.tld would be an obvious case but what about similar names? I have a domain that would be one letter dropped and an "S" added to the end of a very popular MS product but is exactly like Doc Com's example (MaineBays.com)? Would they decide these names are TMs and drop us becasue of it?

Would Stallmart be dropped because it is similar to Wallmart, even if they sold bathrooms?

How about the DogDishNetwork (a directory promoting sellers of pet food and pet supplies including dishes)? Would it be dropped because of Dish Network?

There are so many domains out there that could be a TM issue but aren't being used as such because of a generic being used?

Exactly what I meant by "wishful thinking." Yeah, IF these names were being used in this fashion, they would probably be ok, but the fact of the matter is that they are NOT being used correctly and in most cases are simply parked to earn PPC revenue, and THAT's what they are going after. Of course there are exceptions to EVERY situation, such as Nissan.com where the guys is named Nissan, yet Nissan Motors feels they have a right to the name.

 

[Focus]

The funny thing is these names probably don't earn sh*t lol

 

[INVIGOR]

The funny thing is these names probably don't earn sh*t lol

You said it Focus. The squeeze isn't worth the juice. I own a few typos that I bought early on and through portfolios. I honestly need to weed them out some day, but the point is, you're right. They don't earn squat!

 

[Focus]

That's why I got rid of mine

 

[domaingenius]

all money (assets) are in China...
only accredited in US.
So another worthless judgment

Sorry but you are 100% wrong here. IF Verizon wish to they can
enforce this Judgment in the USA as OnlineNIC have a presence here.
and that could involve Verizon taking control of the whole company and
all domains owned by them. Tell me why not ?.

DG

 

[Gerry]

While I don' think that will happen it wouldn't surprise me. Verizon actively goes out and sues anyone with a Verizon domain. They even went after VerizonSucks.com ( http://whois.domaintools.com/verizonsucks.com ) and several other similar sites. For a while, several years ago, they were extremely aggressive in regards to domains and got some bad PR about it.

My main question is - who's to decide if a name is a TM or not? Sure, MicrosoftSupport.tld would be an obvious case but what about similar names? I have a domain that would be one letter dropped and an "S" added to the end of a very popular MS product but is exactly like Doc Com's example (MaineBays.com)? Would they decide these names are TMs and drop us becasue of it?

Would Stallmart be dropped because it is similar to Wallmart, even if they sold bathrooms?

How about the DogDishNetwork (a directory promoting sellers of pet food and pet supplies including dishes)? Would it be dropped because of Dish Network?

There are so many domains out there that could be a TM issue but aren't being used as such because of a generic being used?

Anything close to "looks like, sounds like" I would think is subject to scrutiny and potential WIPO.

I am actually anxious to read an update on the Chillibeans.com case from Doc Berryhill.

A WIPO "panel" has the tools to work with in determining an infringement case or not. I hardly think they are correct 100% of the time.

Imagine that you, as a domainer, owned Office dot com and MS came after it because they have a product called Office.

Granted, that is quit generic. But the whole concept of "I want it" is what drives all of this mess to begin with.

Now if you want to reg MSoffice then be prepared to get a C&D letter.

What scares me about MS is they circumvent the entire WIPO process in many cases and take it straight to court. That is such a scarey prospect to get involved in a court case where damages are awarded. Not just the domain name - MONETARY damages and judgments!

With my MaineBays dot com example, even after eBay was deemed FOS (full of sh*t), the legal team of eBay insisted I never use it, sell it, or develop it.

I emailed them back.

I related that I was going to track down the descendants of the Botanist who in the 1800's found and named a native wild flower RoseBay, the founder and namesake of ChesapeakeBay as well as the property rights owner of the Otis Redding classic Sitting on the Dock of the Bay
and ask all of them to be part of a class action lawsuit against eBay for infringing on the lawful rights of using the letters e-b-a-y.

4 years or more later, I am awaiting a response from eBay's legal.

 

[draggar]

Exactly what I meant by "wishful thinking." Yeah, IF these names were being used in this fashion, they would probably be ok, but the fact of the matter is that they are NOT being used correctly and in most cases are simply parked to earn PPC revenue, and THAT's what they are going after. Of course there are exceptions to EVERY situation, such as Nissan.com where the guys is named Nissan, yet Nissan Motors feels they have a right to the name.

the thing is that there are so many sites out there that can be considered a violation but the entities don't go after them. Some examples:

SprintUsers(dot)com - site with ads that compete with Sprint or go to Sprint
BellsouthSucks(dot)com (template / monetized site)
AlStateInsuranceSucks(dot)com - No insurance related ads
Mac-Sucks(dot)com - has mac related ads on the site

(I'm sure people here can come up with dozens more sites - my search even landed me a dozen or so (company)sucks.com parked pages with relevant ads).

People can dance around TM laws because the way that they're written,
http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2000/08/38056

If a sucks site uses a company's trademark for noncommercial criticism purposes, it doesn't run afoul of trademark law so long as consumers are not confused or tricked into believing that the site is sponsored by or affiliated with the company, said Robin Gross, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Some of the names are being used in a fashion to profit off of the company but are considered legal due to the way the law is written. I contemplated having a dozen or so (product)sucks.com but I decided to stick with the generic wording for the product group but I'm sure someone else could pick up the (product)sucks.com domain and put up a site.

Sorry but you are 100% wrong here. IF Verizon wish to they can
enforce this Judgment in the USA as OnlineNIC have a presence here.
and that could involve Verizon taking control of the whole company and
all domains owned by them. Tell me why not ?.

DG

Easy - if they just have an address in the US and a mail forwarded out of the US there isn't much that can be done. A friend of mine won a similar case but since the person was in Peru and he only had a mail forwarder in Miami, my friend was screwed out of tens of thousands of dollars and couldn't get the money back.

If the assets (money, equipment, etc..) are overseas then chances are the winner won't get anything, won't even get their legal fees back.

If you don't believe me, I can have a chat with you about my ex-employer, Fountain Technologies.

 

[stuff]

Sorry but you are 100% wrong here.

DG

I think not

 

[jberryhill]

I am actually anxious to read an update on the Chillibeans.com case from Doc Berryhill.

No need for anxiety.

Lawsuits are more boring than most people realize.

The attorney who represented the complainant in the UDRP has informed us that they are not representing the complainant in the suit, and we are serving the joint complainants in Brazil and Uruguay.

It is unlikely they are going to show up.

 

[SGBoise]

Damn, $50,000 per domain. Luckly verizon.

 

[domaingenius]

Easy - if they just have an address in the US and a mail forwarded out of the US there isn't much that can be done. A friend of mine won a similar case but since the person was in Peru and he only had a mail forwarder in Miami, my friend was screwed out of tens of thousands of dollars and couldn't get the money back.

If the assets (money, equipment, etc..) are overseas then chances are the winner won't get anything, won't even get their legal fees back.

If you don't believe me, I can have a chat with you about my ex-employer, Fountain Technologies.

It depends how Verizon approach the enforcement and how bothered they
are to get the money. What stops them enforcing against the domain names
owned by OnlineNIC ,and that can be done at the Registry in the USA ? Court documents can be served on domain names, as I found out myself once.

DG

 

[typist]

That angry legal girl at verizon seems to have been a little bit less busy recently though. Or maybe it's only me who has been asleep.

I hope she has given up her lobbying attempts to criminalize trademark matters though. There are more important things for law enforcement to deal with than her petty obsessions.

 

[netearth]

all money (assets) are in China...
only accredited in US.
So another worthless judgment

Not entirely true, as they can petition ICANN to have their RAA (the accreditation) cancelled, if they dont pay / settle or come to an agreement of some kind.