Categories
Disputes News Trademarks WIPO

WIPO Roundup: Google, Autotrader, Wikimedia, and other interesting disputes

Got Milk Funny Tshirt

Nearly 1,000 domain disputes have been filed with WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, since the beginning of 2011, with many cases getting attention across the web like the case of Facebook which filed a complaint over 21 separate domains and won.   

Here’s a look at some of the more recent disputes filed that include companies ranging from Google to The California Milk Processor Board which filed a complaint over the domain name momgotmilk.com.

GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft – gea.com
GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft, one of the largest system providers for food and energy processes with about EUR 4.4 billion revenue in 2010 according to its website has filed a domain dispute over the three-letter domain name gea.com.  Gea.com was first registered back in 1995 and is currently owned by G.E.A Design.  The complainant uses geagroup.com for its company website.  Although it may seem impossible that the company could win gea.com, you will be surprised.  In 2003, GEA Group won the three-letter domain gea.biz

TPI Holdings, Inc. – autotrade.com
Autotrader.com and Auto Trader are trademarks of TPI Holdings, Inc.  TPI Holdings is no stranger to WIPO having filed nearly two dozen cases since 2000 with most involving the keyword “trader”, not “trade”.  Its most recent cases came in 2010 when it won the transfer of autotraderleaseguide.com, cycletradermagazine.com, and cycletradermagazines.com.  Well known domain investor Garry Chernoff is the current owner of autotrade.com.  Garry Chernoff made headlines in 2011 with top dollar sales including gamesforgirls.com at $500,000 and bluejeans.com for $150,000.

The California Milk Processor Board – momgotmilk.com
The California Milk Processor Board is the owner of the Got Milk? trademark.   The CA Milk Processor Board currently owns about 40 domain names according to DomainTools, which include gotmilkchocolate.com and cowabduction.com.  It also owns and operates gotmilk.com, a website that receives thousands of visitors a month according to Compete.  In 2010 the CA Milk Processor Board won a number of domain names after the respondent failed to reply.  Among the names handed over were gotalmondmilk.com and gotnutmilk.com.

Wikimedia Foundation Inc. and Google Inc.
Unlike the cases of autotrade.com and gea.com, Wikimedia and Google seem to  have more legitimate claims.  Wikimedia is going after the domains wikiipedia.org, wikipediia.org, and wikippedia.org.  Google is going after ad-words.mobi.  Wikimedia won cases earlier this year over additional typo domains wekipedia.com and wikkipedia.org.  A rough estimate by Compete, shows that 2 of the 3 typos actually get traffic in the hundreds each month.

To see some of the latest WIPO UDRP cases, visit the WIPO website.

Categories
News

$4.5 million iCloud.com domain name may switch owners soon

Apple iCloud

More details continue to emerge about Apple’s iCloud music service which reports say will be unveiled on the web at icloud.com — a domain name the company reportedly paid $4.5 million for ownership of from Swedish cloud computing company Xcerion. 

According to a report on Thursday by BusinessWeek called ‘Apple’s Deals May Transform Digital Music’, the company could preview its cloud plans as early as June at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The sold out Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, which takes place June 6-10, showcases the latest innovations and the newest technologies in iOS and Mac OS X.

That’s just a week away.

However, if the rumors are true that Apple will be running the service online at icloud.com, the company is running short on time to have its website up and running. 

As many have already noted, the domain name is still registered to Xcerion and it continues to forward to Xcerion’s Cloudme.com, an online digital storage service. 

Xcerion
   ATTN ICLOUD.COM
   care of Network Solutions
   PO Box 459
   Drums, PA.  US  18222
  
   Domain Name: ICLOUD.COM

   Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
      Xcerion               
      ATTN ICLOUD.COM
      care of Network Solutions
      PO Box 459
      Drums, PA 18222
      US
     
   Record expires on 15-Jan-2018.
   Record created on 18-Dec-2007.

Has the deal fallen apart, or will the name finally switch hands in the coming days?

Apple’s own website has no information online about its icloud.  As of today, neither icloud.apple.com nor apple.com/icloud resolve to a working page.

[UPDATE May 31st, 2011:  Apple issued a press release announcing the company would unveil iCloud at the Worldwide Developers Conference beginning on Monday, June 6.]

[Photo of the Apple cloud via THEVILLE]

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Game Rumors: Zynga registers Mojitomo domain names, files for trademark

mojitomo

While rumors of Zynga’s imminent IPO continue to spread across news sites and blogs, the company appears to be busy behind the scenes working on a project called Mojitomo. 

The company filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on May 24, 2011. 

Here’s a look at the application from the USPTO website.

Word Mark MOJITOMO
Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Computer game software; video game programs; and computer software platforms for social networking; interactive video game programs; downloadable electronic game programs and computer software platforms for social networking that may be accessed via the Internet, computers and wireless devices; computer software to enable uploading, posting, showing, displaying, tagging, blogging, sharing or otherwise providing electronic media or information in the fields of virtual communities, electronic gaming, entertainment, and general interest via the Internet or other communications networks with third partiesIC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Computer and electronic games provided online, enhancements within online computer and electronic games, and game applications within online computer and electronic games; entertainment reviews of computer games provided online; information relating to computer games provided online; virtual environments in which users can interact through social games for recreational, leisure or entertainment purposes
Standard Characters Claimed  
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number 85328208
Filing Date May 24, 2011
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Owner (APPLICANT) Zynga Inc. CORPORATION DELAWARE 365 Vermont Steret San Francisco CALIFORNIA 94103
Attorney of Record John M. Kim
Type of Mark TRADEMARK. SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

‘Mojitomo’ domain names

Days before on May 21, it looks like the company registered several domain names using MarkMonitor, a brand protection company used by many of the world’s biggest companies.   Zynga’s own moniker, zynga.com, uses the same privacy and brand protection services provided by MarkMonitor and DNStination.

The domains included  mojitomo.com, mojitomo.net, and mojitomo.org, none of which had ever been registered before. 

While I have no proof that Zynga is the registrant of the domain names, there’s a very strong chance considering the names were registered only days before the trademark was filed.

I’ve searched the internet using the keyword “mojitomo”, but I couldn’t find any hints as to what the name could be used for.  Except for the Cuban drink Mojito, not much esle shows up.  There doesn’t appear to be any stories about Zynga and the word mojitomo, aside from this article. 

Could Zynga’s  Japan studio Unoh Games have a game in development?

Categories
Movies News

Sony Pictures registers domain names for yet-untitled “Killing bin Laden” movie

Killing bin Laden Movie

Earlier this month as reported by Deadline.com, The New York Times, Associated Press, and other news sites, Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired the rights to Kathryn Bigelow’s film about killing Osama bin Laden.

The film project was originally called “killing bin Laden” according to Deadline who first broke the story. 

After bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs, the project changed, and so did the title of the movie. 

Well, despite rumors that the film is untitled, Sony Pictures isn’t taking any chances. 

On May 26, only days after news broke of Sony’s deal with Bigelow, the company has registered nearly a dozen domain names related to the killing of bin Laden movie.  

Registrant:
        Domain Administrator
        SPDE Domain Names Inc
        9050 West Washington Blvd Smith Building 2014 A
         Culver City CA 90232
        ‘[email protected]

    Domain Name: killingbinladen-movie.com

        Registrar Name: Markmonitor.com
        Registrar Whois: whois.markmonitor.com

Created on…………..: 2011-05-26.
    Expires on…………..: 2012-05-26.
    Record last updated on..: 2011-05-26.

Other names registered by Sony Pictures include the following:

killingbinladen-movie.com 
killingbinladen-movie.net 
killingbinladen.net 
killingbinladenmovie.com 
thekilling-movie.com 
thekilling-movie.net 
thekillingofbinladen-movie.com 
thekillingofbinladen-movie.net 
thekillingofbinladen.net 
thekillingofbinladenmovie.com 

The company missed out on some of the better web addresses. 

The domain killingofbinladen.com was registered May 2, 2011, while killingbinladen.com was registered May 3, 2011 after it had expired and became available again.

Kathryn Bigelow had better luck on The Hurt Locker, which won six Academy Awards including Best Picture.  The official site is located at the URL thehurtlocker.com. 

At the time of this posting, no other news site or blog has reported about Sony Pictures’ domain registrations. 

[Photo of the Situation Room in the White House via Wikimedia]

Categories
Movies News Trademarks

A flurry of Navy SEAL domain names registered after the killing of bin Laden

US Navy SEAL

As one might expect, with the Navy SEALs being in the news after killing Osama bin Laden, the number of Navy SEAL domain names being registered has soared.

The latest stories of Disney abandoning its trademark application on SEAL Team 6 and news of Columbia Pictures set to debut the first film in 2012 about the raid, has sparked even more registrations — which can average anywhere from 30 to 50 a day depending on the news.

Here’s a look at recent SEAL registrations, courtesy of DomainTools

The domains range from merchandise domains like SEALTeam6shirts.com to fan names like ThanksNavySeals.com and  SEALTeam6forPresident.com.  NavySEAL.info was registered only yesterday.

Because there have literally been hundreds and hundreds of SEAL domains created, I’ve only listed a limited number that I’ve seen registered in recent days. 

By the way, if you haven’t seen this Funny or Die video on the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden, it’s a must see. WARNING: The video contains profanity.

The Navy Seal Who Killed Osama Bin Laden from Rob Riggle