Company Files Cybersquatting Claim Against Twitter Username
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Can a Twitter username be cybersquatting? One insurance company thinks so.
Here’s an interesting lawsuit I just discovered that attempts to stretch the bounds of the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection act.
Insurance company Conventry First has filed a federal lawsuit (pdf) against whomever is using the CoventryFirst username on Twitter, i.e. twitter.com/coventryfirst.
But in addition to complaining about plain old trademark infringement, the company has thrown in a charge of cybersquatting for using twitter.com/coventryfirst.
Now, besides the issue that Coventry First is suggesting that having a trademark in a URL directory of your web site can be cybersquatting, it seems to me that in a way they could ensnare Twitter in this battle. After all, it’s Twitter’s domain name that Conventry is considering to be a violation of the anti-cybersquatting act.
The lawsuit does not demand that the @coventryfirst username be transferred to Conventry First.
Just for kicks, I’m going to make this post’s URL include coventry-first.
Tags: anti-cybersquatting, lawsuits, twitter
See also:
* How To Twittersquat The Top 100 Brands
A call for the creation of the Uniform Username Dispute Resolution Policy.
http://erikjheels.com/1298.html
I love the way she calls the full URL a “domain name” without the slightest clue that server path names have been considered before under the ACPA and not considered (for the obvious reasons) to be “domain names”.
_Interactive Goods, Corporation v. A2Z Mobile Office_, No. 01-3590 (6th Cir., April 10, 2003) (“post-domain path of a URL (the sub-file directory). . . does not generally signify source (of goods or services). The post-domain path merely shows how the website’s information is organized within the host personal computer files.”)
Leave it to Camille to try to re-invent that wheel.
This sounds like a job for Lulzsec!
Coventry First could easily be a church name anywhere in the country too. Lame dispute — just sour grapes that they were late to the Twitter party.