By Liz Oliveira, Legal Team
A United States District Court in North Carolina recently granted Ticketmaster, the plaintiff, a default judgment awarding five thousand dollars in statutory damages, attorneys fees, as well as the right to restrict the defendant, domain owner of TicketmasterEvent.com, from using this confusingly similar domain.
Stating that the plaintiff’s mark was distinctive and famous, the Judge acknowledged that consumers looking for Ticketmaster.com were likely to be confused when arriving at the defendant’s website. The confusion was caused by the defendant’s use of the term 'ticketmaster' in the domain as well as the ticket related content on the page. Believing that the defendant had no right or legitimate interest in the domain the judge determined that the domain was created in bad faith and specifically with the intent to profit from the plaintiff’s well known name. The Judge found the defendant liable for trademark infringement under both the Lanham Act, which prohibits a number of activities, including trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false advertising, and the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits individuals from selling the rights of the domain name to the trademark holder or individual for a profit liable.
The ruling of this case should shows that adding words or text to a trademarked word does not reduce once chance of being held liable for trademark infringement.
Source: Sedo.com -- Reprinted with permission -- July 8, 2008
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