Back in April we reported on the case of GoldmanSachs666.com
If you recall Goldman Sachs (GS) sent an Cease and Desist letter, demanding that blogger Mike Morgan take down his gripe site GoldmanSachs666.com, saying that the site violated Goldman’s intellectual property rights and that the domain constituted trademark infringement.
The “666″ in the domain’s refers to address of Goldman’s headquarters in New York.
Instead of waiting for GS’s UDRP to arrive in the mail, Mr. Morgan, filed a preemptive lawsuit against the investment bank in the in federal district court, for the southern district of Florida, alleging that Mr. Morgan GoldmanSachs666.com, is used “to display news and commentary” regarding the bank and does not violate GS trademark as it is a legitimate use.
Morgan also asks the court to declare that his use of the name is lawful and doesn’t infringe on Goldman Sachs’ trademark or violate other laws.
Today Goldman Sachs, has thrown in the flag .
In a stipulation and voluntary dismissal, filed in the case by the blogger, the bank has agreed to “refrain from any action that interferes with Morgan’s use and registration of the Internet Sites” as long as he continues to display a disclaimer and the sites are not used for commercial purposes.
On his site, Morgan says: “True knuckheads that think they can bully anyone. Well . . . they bullied Bush, and they’re bullying Obama and his Gang of Goofballs, but I hate the bad guys . . . and Mike Morgan never backs down.”
Nice to see the little guy, take on the big guy and win.
Please note the difference between what Mr. Morgan use of the domain was and a whole different result would have occurred if this domain was parked.
If you find yourself in the same situation, as Mr. Morgan and believe you have a strong case, the preemptive lawsuit is not a bad idea. By such a filing you pick the venue, rather than subjecting yourself to where ever the trademark holder selected, and after all who needs the threat of one of these hanging over you.
Also generally speaking the one who files the suit has more control over it then being on the defendant side of things.
Congrats to Mr. Morgan
Good for him.
This kind of use of a domain involving a company’s name should be protected by free speech.
It is nice to see the little guy occasionally win.
But, he was lucky this time.
They just didn’t want to expose themselves to a possible $100k in legal fees. Plus, they would have to disclose this case in other financial activities. (I’m sure the list is long.)
The major advantage he had is that he is also a lawyer.
So, his out of pocket cost was filing fees.
Whereas, most of us would have a higher cost to pursue this approach.
See, getting an education pays !!!
🙂