Merry Christmas Verizon!! The telecommunication giant got an awesome present this year when it was awarded $33.15 million dollars in a default judgment against a company that it sued for “cybersquatting.”
“Verizon accused the defendant, OnlineNIC Inc., of unlawfully registering 663 domain names that misused Verizon trademarks to divert people looking for Verizon Web sites. Verizon v. OnlineNIC, No 5:2008cv02832 (N.D. Calif.).”
This judgment, given on December 24th, is believed to be the largest award to date for abusing trademarks on the internet.
“This case should send a clear message and serve to deter cybersquatters who continue to run businesses for the primary purpose of misleading consumers,” said Sarah Deutsch, Verizon’s vice president and associate general counsel.”
Typically in these cases, winning the case is one thing and collecting is another. Simply finding a defendant, who can be located anywhere in the world where there is access to the Internet, to take into litigation, is a challenge.
“Finding the right company, the right person and the right server is often hard to do. When you can do it, great… Usually, companies aren’t even looking for money. They just want their trademark protected. It is rare to get any money.” Said Sanford E. Warren, a partner in the intellectual property practice law firm in Dallas.
The The federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act prohibits people from registering Internet domain names of trademarked products and companies, and then demanding payment for use of the domain name.
“What the law was originally trying to stop doesn’t happen very much any more, but there are still all sorts of scams on the Internet,” Warren said. “What legitimate companies are doing is going after entities that are infringing their trademark to steer people to their Web site. It looks like that is exactly what [OnlineNIC] was doing with Verizon’s trademark.”
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