Donald Trump seeks $400,000 in cybersquatting case
Having been involved in some of the first high-value domain name recoveries and reported WIPO/NAF decisions, I find that domain name disputes often provide interesting micro-case studies. The decisions–at least of the arbitration variety–often issue very quickly with no formal discovery, and provide brief reported decisions centering on a potentially valuable asset and the intellectual property interests implicated by that particular registration. The latest domain name dispute making news involves four domains based on Donald Trump’s name, for which Trump is seeking $400,000 in damages ($100,000 per domain name).
The domain names in question include trumpmumbai.com and trumpindia.com. These domains were registered by the current owner upon announcement by Donald Trump’s organization of plans to develop hotels in locations such as Mumbai and Bangalore, India.
Domain name disputes sometimes hinge on the use being made of the domain name in question. I do not know if any actual content was posted on these domain names, but the domains obviously feature Trump’s name combined with the location of pending business developments. This triggers both trademark as well as Right of Publicity considerations. But it also is important to consider who has registered the domain names and what his or her likely (if not expressed) intent was in doing so.
In the domain name recoveries and arbitrations I handle, I make a point of emphasizing if the current registrant appears to be a cybersquatter. In some cases, it becomes apparent that the registrant was engaging in precisely the kind of activities that anti-cybersquatting regulations are designed to prevent. The coverage on this story, as on this CNN link, is telling: http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/31/us/new-york-trump-lawsuit
Here is the part I find the most revealing in the CNN story: the registrant “…also holds nearly 200 other domain names, including barclayscapitallehman.com, goldmansachsgroup.com, milanvogue.com and hulufriend.com.” In the following paragraph, it goes on that on the day Bank of America announced its merger with Merrill Lynch, the registrant secured bofaml.com and mlbofa.com.
We’ll likely never know the financial component to any resolution reached between the parties, but I expect Donald Trump will soon have four more domain names included in his portfolio.
As an aside, it seems to me that securing the most directly-related domain name iterations prior to announcing major business transactions should be part of the pre-announcement process.