The UDRP Blog™

In Hershey Chocolate & Confectionery Corporation v. L. Roman T. Sorrells, PARI’ZA Studios , WIPO Case No. D2017-0128 (John C. McElwaine, March 31, 2017), the Panel ordered the transfer of hersheykyss.com to Complainant owner of the famous chocolate brand KISSES. This was actually a case I worked on when I had the privilege of serving as President and Counsel to Hershey Chocolate & Confectionery Corporation. I learned of this infringing domain name through a domain watch I had ordered to monitor domain names that potentially infringe on the HERSHEY'S and KISSES trademarks. We offer this type of domain watching service at my new firm, Alprin Law Offices , and I highly recommend it for anyone concerned about cybersquatting and/or typosquatting. A domain watch is an inexpensive way to monitor and protect one's valuable intellectual property from being infringed, which in the case of hersheykyss.com involved the association of famous trademarks to unsavory sexual content...

The late Theodore Presser would be proud to know that his lawyers got it right A couple of days ago, here , I reviewed Gookinaid ERG, Inc. v. Valda Krievane , WIPO Case No. D2008-0487 (Alan L. Limbury, May 28, 2008), a case in which the Complainant failed to demonstrate its common law trademark rights, despite the fact that it appeared as though the Complainant had such rights. In other words, the case turned on a failure of proof. That case raised for me a simple question: What level of proof is sufficient to demonstrate common law trademark rights? I found the answer this morning in the newly published decision Theodore Presser Company v. John Smith/Whois Protection , WIPO Case No. D2008-0549 (Christopher J. Pibus, May 29, 2008). In that case, the Panel required the transfer of theodorepresser.com to the owner of the common law trademarks THEODORE PRESSER and THEODORE PRESSER COMPANY. Despite claiming use of the THEODORE PRESSER and THEODORE PRESSER COMPANY marks since 1883, the Comp...