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Judicial Trend in Supporting Domain Name Registries' Takedown Policies in Cybersquatting Disputes
GoDaddy.com, which is the largest registrar in the United States with more than 60 million domain names under management, has now prevailed as defendant in two major lawsuits under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), 15 U.S.C. '1125(d): In Petroliam Nasional Berhad v. GoDaddy.com, 737 F.3d 546 (9th Cir. 2013), and more recently in Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) v. GoDaddy.com, 10-03738 (C.D.Calif. 2015).
In both cases, the plaintiffs sought to hold GoDaddy liable for contributory or secondary infringement rather than “direct” cybersquatting under the ACPA. Although the factual circumstances underlying the claims are different, the principal reason for the plaintiffs' lack of success lies in a fundamental misunderstanding of the ACPA.
The ACPA was Congress' statutory response to the scourge of registering, trafficking in or using domain names with the bad faith intent of profiting from the marks. While the ACPA is part of the Trademark Act of 1946 (the Lanham Act), 15 U.S.C. ”1051-1129, cybersquatting, or cyberpiracy as the statute is denominated, is not a traditional trademark infringement but a statutory violation of another kind. The intent necessary to prove trademark infringement and cybersquatting is measured by entirely different standards.
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