Upon the heels of a victory in a matter before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Lisa Migliore Black and Migliore & Associates seek damages from Kentuckiana Reporters, LLC, under the protections afforded by the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and the Lanham Act.
Click here to read the complaint.
Press Release:
LOCAL COMPANY FILES FEDERAL SUIT AGAINST COMPETITOR OVER DOMAIN NAME DISPUTE–Suit seeks to recover damages after a successful arbitration matter finds cybersquatting competitor acted in bad faith
LOUISVILLE, KY, March 18 – Migliore & Associates, LLC, a Kentucky-based court reporting firm along with its founder, Lisa Migliore Black, announced today that it has filed suit in the United States District Court, Western District of Kentucky against Kentuckiana Reporters, LLC, a competitor firm. Migliore has filed suit in federal court after successfully arbitrating the matter before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), where it was found that Kentuckiana improperly registered the domain name “LisaMigliore.com” for the purposes of illegally diverting Internet traffic to the Kentuckiana Reporters website.
In a written decision, the WIPO panel held that (i) the disputed domain name registered by Kentuckiana was identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which Migliore has rights; and (ii) Kentuckiana had no rights or legitimate interests in respect to the disputed domain name; and (iii) Kentuckiana registered the disputed domain name in bad faith and was using it in bad faith. The WIPO panel explained that Kentuckiana engaged in “classic cybersquatting” redirecting Internet users to their own website. The decision was based not only on the evidence Migliore submitted but also from the statements submitted by Kentuckiana. The WIPO panel ordered the transfer of the domain name.
Migliore and her company bring the federal lawsuit seeking to recover damages, in part, under the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d) and the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a). The suit also alleges unfair competition. Migliore and her company are seeking statutory damages of up to $100,000 each for Kentuckiana’s violations or actual compensatory damages to be proven at trial, together with attorneys’ fees and costs and other relief the Court deems appropriate. The federal lawsuit also alleges that Kentuckiana engaged in a pattern of bad faith by registering domain names consisting of the business names of other competitors or misspellings of their names.
“My competitor’s bad acts have come at a great cost to me and others, both financially and emotionally. Despite negotiations to settle this matter quickly and efficiently out of court, Kentuckiana Reporters has refused to resolve this matter at each stage. I’m left with no other recourse than to seek recovery of my damages by filing federal suit,” states Lisa Migliore Black, founder of Migliore & Associates.
Lisa Migliore Black, Migliore & Associates, Louisville Court Reporting and Video Services. All Rights Reserved.