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KEYTLaw Wins Cybersquatting Case for Pacific Aircraft

by Charles Runyan, Ph.D., J.D. Domain Name Law Attorney

A National Arbitration Forum Panel ruled that Pacific Aircraft Corporation of Angeles City, Philippines, must transfer the domain names pacificaircraft.com and pacificaircraft.net to Pacific Aircraft Incorporated of Scottsdale, Arizona. The action was filed by Richard Keyt, attorney for Pacific Aircraft Incorporated, under ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.  See the NAF Panel's decision.

Pacific Aircraft Incorporated has been in the business of selling model airplanes and ships internationally for over ten years.  In 1999, Robert Amerault, registered the two domain names for a Philippine corporation that hired him to design a web site.  Amerault claimed that he took control of the domain names after the Philippine corporation failed to pay money owed to him.  Since registering the domain names, the Philippine corporation and then Robert Amerault operated a web site that directly competed with the Scottsdale corporation.  Amerault's web site used the same trade name as the Scottsdale corporation and sold the same products as the Scottsdale corporation. 

The NAF Panel found that the domain names were identical or confusingly similar to the Scottsdale corporation's common law trade mark, that the Philippine corporation did not have any rights or legitimate interests in the domain names and the domain names were used in bad faith.  Under ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, the respondent has ten days to file a lawsuit seeking to reverse the Panel's ruling or the domain names will be transferred to the Scottsdale corporation.   See KEYTLaw's FAQ on ICANN's UDRP for a full explanation of the policy.

The case illustrates how trademark and service mark owners (including owner's of unregistered common law marks) can obtain infringing domain names relatively quickly and inexpensively even when the dispute involves international cybersquatting.  Because the procedures that are used to combat domain name trademark infringement and cybersquatting involve a federal statute and an international arbitration procedure, KEYTLaw is able to assist mark owners from any where in the world in obtaining infringing domain names from cybersquatters and typosquatters.

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This article was first published on August 14, 2001.

About Charles Runyan

Chuck Runyan, Ph.D., J.D., has been practicing intellectual property law since 1997.  Chuck advises trademark holders about domain names that infringe on a trademark and if the trademark holder has a claim to a domain name under ICANN's Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy and the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.  He has a Ph.D. in chemistry and has been a patent attorney since 1998 whose practice includes patent preparation, prosecution, portfolio management, and opinion work.  Chuck represents individuals and businesses, start-ups through large, multi-national pharmaceutical companies, in their pursuit and enforcement of patent rights throughout the United States and worldwide.  Charles Runyan is licensed to practice law in Arizona, California and Texas.  Call Chuck at 480-205-9365, email at cer@keytlaw.com and fax at 602-297-6890.  Communicating with Charles Runyan via email, telephone or otherwise does not cause you to become a client of Chuck Runyan or KEYTLaw, LLC, or cause your communications to be confidential or subject to the attorney client privilege.  Charles Runyan is of counsel to KEYTLaw, LLC.

Domain Name Law Consultations

Domain name lawyer & trademark lawyer Charles Runyan, Ph.D., offers phone consultations on domain name law and cybersquatting issues for $499 (1 hour) and $299 (1/2 hour).  Call Chuck at 480-205-9365 or send an email to cer@keytlaw.com.

This page was last modified on October 21, 2008.

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