Traverse Internet Law Federal Court Report: March 2011 - Domain Name Dispute Lawsuits

Traverse Internet Law Disclaimer

The facts are unproven allegations of the Plaintiff and all commentary is based upon the allegations, the truthfulness and accuracy of which are likely in dispute.


ABERCROMBIE & FITCH TRADING CO. v. VEKEY LI and DOES 1-10
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA (FT. LAUDERDALE)
0:11-CV-60340
FILED: 2/16/2011

Faced with this type of a problem your company may decide it is better to file a lawsuit “in rem” to obtain the domain name and effectively shut-down the business. Otherwise, you will be faced with having to serve individual Defendants in China who are probably using aliases. The odds of identifying these people and getting them served are very low. The goal when faced with any cyber-squatting situation is to get the domain name out of play as quickly as possible, particularly when dealing with Defendants who appear to be in “China”, but could be Iranians operating through a Russian province, for instance.

Abercrombie distributes high quality luxury goods. The Defendants are allegedly offering for sale counterfeit Abercrombie branded products. Defendants are alleged to have acquired domain names that are almost identical to many of the Abercrombie trademarks. The Defendants are individuals and/or business entities of unknown make-up who likely reside in the People’s Republic of China.

The lawsuit includes trademark counterfeiting, trademark infringement, false designation or origin, and cyberpiracy. The prayer for relief requests preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, transfer of all infringing domain names, that subject domains be placed on registry hold status, cease of access to the Defendants’ websites, actual damages, treble damages, costs, attorneys’ fees, pre-judgment interest, and any other relief the Court deems proper. Traverse Internet Law Cross-Reference Number 1478.