Author name: fairwindsp

By Steve Levy When brand owners talk about online intellectual property enforcement the first topic is usually domain names and the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). Another topic might be the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by which copycat website can be taken down. But less discussed are social media usernames despite being so ubiquitous

By Steve Levy In UDRP cases, a key threshold test for succeeding is the ability to prove you have the trademark rights. And recently there have been a few cases in which the complainants were unable to do so. These cases are instructive for brand owners who are considering domain name enforcement actions. It is

By Steve Levy Maybe you just started a new in-house job, or your company just made a new acquisition or merger. Maybe, in your due diligence, you noticed a domain name that uses an important company trademark and resolves to a sketchy looking website. Maybe you thought to yourself, “hmm, this domain is a bit

By Steve Levy Maybe you just started a new in-house job, or your company just made a new acquisition or merger. Maybe, in your due diligence, you noticed a domain name that uses an important company trademark and resolves to a sketchy looking website. Maybe you thought to yourself, “hmm, this domain is a bit

By Tom Wells and Gabe Bonifacio Introduction With the rapid advancement of technology and the increasing popularity of artificial intelligence (AI), the adoption of the .AI top-level domain (TLD) has gained momentum. The TLD was created for the small Caribbean Island of Anguilla but has attracted individuals and companies alike due to the artificial intelligence

By Steve Levy Let’s face it. Not all brands are created equal. Some are famous, some are super famous, and some have a very limited reputation, perhaps from being used by so many companies. Consider the APPLE brand which is known worldwide but only for a particular segment of business – technology products. If, say,

By Steve Levy It is a foundational concept that the UDRP was created to deal with abuse of trademarks through the registration and use of domain names, namely, “cybersquatting”. These are situations where a domain name takes unfair advantage of a brand owner’s reputation for illicit gain. Obvious cases are phishing, counterfeit products, monetized links

By Tom Wells What is registrar hopping? Registrar hopping is the strategic transfer of domain name registrations between registrars at low or no cost. Registrants utilize the technique to limit domain name expenses or avoid repercussions for malicious activities like trademark infringement or malware. The exploitation of these registrar transfers allows bad actors to remain

By Tom Wells Introduction Does the below situation sound familiar? You become aware of a phishing scheme targeting your company via a malicious domain name. You take legal action to shut down and reclaim the problematic domain name. You then become aware of a new malicious domain name registered by the same bad actor who

By Steve Levy In a January 4th entry, we mentioned a UDRP claim against the domain name mar-a-lago.com that was denied based on a law firm’s failure to submit critical evidence of prior trademark rights. There’s now been a second decision denying transfer of the domain name maralago.com and the same law firm represented the complainant, DTTM Operations LLC, which