JALIN REALTY CAPITAL ADVISORS, LLC v. A BETTER WIRELESS, NISP, LLC, Dist. Court, Minnesota 2013
FACTS: Defendant "sought a loan from [Plaintiff] and
the parties entered into an agreement under which [Plaintiff] would attempt
to fund the loan in exchange for a $37,500 commitment fee. After [Plaintiff]
did not fund the loan and did not refund the commitment fee, [Defendant] created
a website with the domain name "jrca.info" and used the website to warn
other consumers about what it perceived to be [Plaintiff]'s fraudulent
business practices."
Plaintiff Sued Defendant for a violation of the AntiCybersquatter Consumer Protect Act and other claims. Defendant moves for Summary Judgment.
RULE: "To prevail on a cybersquatting claim, [Plaintiff] must establish three
elements: (1) that [Plaintiff]'s mark is distinctive or famous; (2) that [Defendant]'s
domain name is identical or confusingly similar to [Plaintiff]'s mark; and
(3) that [Defendant] used, registered, or trafficked in the domain name with a
bad faith intent to profit from the sale of the domain name."
ANALYSIS: Defendant's website is a "gripe site," not actionable under the ACPA. Defendant "alleges that it registered the domain name "jrca.info" and
maintained the website in a legitimate, good faith attempt to warn other
consumers about what it believed were [Plaintiff]'s fraudulent business
practices...[Plaintiff] offers no evidence suggesting that [Defendant] intended to profit by
creating the website. [Plaintiff] does not allege that [Defendant] offered to sell the
domain name to [Plaintiff] or anyone else, nor does [Plaintiff] allege that [Defendant]
offered to take down the website in exchange for money. "
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