Protect Your Domain
Domain Name Litigation
Domain names hold a special place in business.
A strong domain portfolio is a requirement in today’s landscape. They are often one of the first connections between a potential customer and a business. They provide an opportunity for a business to express itself, to set it apart from the competition, to explain its mission, and what is makes their service or product the best in class. Domain names represent digital real estate. They are one-of-one. No two domain names are identical. And all of this presents an opportunity for bad actors. Luckily, the law provides several avenues to protect your domain.
Cybersquatting:
They can engage in cybersquatting / typosquatting, where they intentionally register a slightly altered domain name as compared to a plaintiff’s trademark. These fraudulent domain names can also be used to redirect traffic to a competitor or engage in phishing attacks, hoping the email recipient does not notice a misplaced letter within a popular domain name.
Domain Name Theft:
Many people have found themselves in the unfortunate position of waking up to release your domain names have been transferred out of your registrar account. Domain name theft is real. If you find yourself in this situation, there are immediate steps you should take. And of course, you should contact an attorney to review what causes of action are best suited for your domain name issue.
Remedies in Domain Name Litigation:
The law provides powerful remedies in connection with domain name litigation. First, the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (the “ACPA”) provides that plaintiffs can recover $100,000 per infringing domain name. 15 U.S.C. § 1117(d). Second, the ACPA gives rightsholders the option to start an “in rem” proceeding where the domain name itself is the defendant. This provides an important tool to use for plaintiffs that are unable to locate the defendant-registrant of the domain name at issue. Finally, both the ACPA, common law, and procedures under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “UDRP”) permit a plaintiff to take possession of a domain name or cancel a domain name registration.
Domain Name Experience
- Filed a lawsuit and litigated to a favorable settlement against entities that operated a large scale scam to divert traffic and sales from local florists.
- Defended a UDRP proceeding against a large television and multimedia company and then successfully negotiated the sale of the domain.
- Represented an ecommerce business against one of the largest domain name resellers in the world and negotiated a settlement within days of filing suit.
- Represented the largest discovery platform in the world that has over 1.4 billion unique users per month in several UDRP proceedings and recovering several infringing domain names.
- Prevailed in over 25 unique UDRP proceedings.
- Litigating to recover over $4 million USD worth of stolen domain names.
Do you own a trademark? Do you rely on your domain name for business? Do you have imposters using your trademark in their domain?
Then a domain dispute proceeding might be the solution you need.
Domain dispute proceedings, often referred to as UDRPs (for the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy), are arbitration proceedings to stop the abusive registration of domain names.
Learn More About Domain Name Litigation:
Contingency Fee Domain Name Litigation:
Revision Legal handles domain name issues on a contingency basis. This means that you do not pay attorney fees unless we collect money for you. To determine whether your case is suited for a contingency fee relationship, contact Revision Legal for a free case assessment.