Academy Wins Domain Name Ruling in GoDaddy Lawsuit

[RazorNF]

Academy Wins Domain Name Ruling in GoDaddy Lawsuit

In advance of a trial next year, the Academy wins summary judgment on 177 domain names including HollywoodOscar.com and OscarResults.net.

GoDaddy appears to be on the verge of losing a big cybersquatting lawsuit over a program that allowed its customers to buy domain names like BetAcademyAwards.com and 2013Oscars.com.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, responsible for the annual Oscars awards ceremony, sued GoDaddy in May 2010 over the "CashParking" program that allowed customers to buy a domain, "park" that page and collect a portion of revenue from GoDaddy's advertising partners on a pay-per-click basis. This past June, Judge Audrey Collins ruled that GoDaddy "uses" and "traffics" in domain names in its Parked Pages program and denied safe harbor protection to the defendant.

read more at http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/academy-wins-domain-name-ruling-654984

 

[myleene]

Ouch.

Yet another example to develop premium websites to protect them from TM claims.

 

[enlytend]

Development wouldn't have protected any of the examples given, just would have changed the target of the legal action.

The Academy has aggressively pursued trademark infringers for years. "Oscar" (as it applies to awards, films, etc.) and "Academy Awards" are their trademarks.