Contributory Cybersquatting Not Viable in Trademark
Copyfight 2013-12-20
Summary:
Or so seems to say the 9th Circuit in Petronas v. GoDaddy.com. Petronas sued GoDaddy for its role in registering and helping maintain two domain names that included the string "petronas" and that directed people to porn sites. Petronas alleged that the registrar contributed to the infringement on trademark that these domains created. I've read the cited statute and it doesn't seem to provide any cause of action for contributory parties, so I'm inclined to agree with the court here. But other courts may decide otherwise or this may get appealed and the 9th has a terrible track record when their decisions are subject to SCOTUS review.