Richard S. Stockton discusses potential effects of GoDaddy cybersquatting trial in the Daily Journal

Richard S. Stockton points out in the Aug. 3, 2015, edition of the Daily Journalthat the long-running dispute between the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and GoDaddy.com LLC could largely benefit trademark owners.

“It’s important because trademark owners now have a vehicle for going right after the registrar as opposed to just the cybersquatter,” Mr. Stockton says in the article, “Cybersquatting Case Slated for Trial Tuesday.” “You could sweep up a hundred different domains, all owned by different people, in one swoop.”

He explains that U.S. District Court Judge Audrey B. Collins ruled in 2013 that GoDaddy was not entitled to the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act’s “safe harbor” provisions — an order that changed the “online trademark game.”

“The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act has become a more powerful tool for trademark owners to police their brands on the Internet because the court took such a narrow view of that safe harbor,” Mr. Stockton also says in the article. “GoDaddy doesn’t have a get out of jail free card, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that GoDaddy is liable for cybersquatting.”

Please click here to read the full article (subscription required).

Posted: August 5, 2015

Contact Banner Witcoff Share on LinkedIn View this page as a pdf Share on Twitter Email this page Print this page