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Edible Arrangements sues to get Edibles.com

by — Policy & Law 5 Comments

Company alleges that the valuable domain name infringes on its ‘edible’ mark.

A screenshot of Edible Arrangements' website

Edible Arrangements, a franchisor of stores that sell fruit arrangements, has filed a lawsuit (pdf) in an effort to get the domain name Edibles.com.

The company appears to have changed the primary branding on its website from Edible Arrangements to Edible within the past three years. It owns Edible.com and forwards it to EdibleArrangements.com.

World Media Group, LLC, which owns a number of valuable domain names, currently uses the Edibles.com domain name to promote a dietary app.

Edible Arrangements alleges this app is a ruse:

Rather, the EDIBLES App is a generic food database that merely sources data from the United States Government, giving the strong impression that the EDIBLES App is a sham and ruse merely to reserve for Defendant the Disputed Domain for potential and speculative future use and development while preventing Edible from using it and intentionally attempting to attract uses for commercial gain by creating a likelihood of confusion as to source or affiliation with Edible.

In its lawsuit, Edible Arrangements argues that the domain name Edibles.com infringes on its mark for “Edible”.

The plural form of Edible’s incontestable EDIBLE mark has no material distinction from the Defendant’s EDIBLES, and the two are therefore legal equivalents such that there is a likelihood of confusion.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court – Northern District of Georgia, where the company is located.

Squadhelp adds visual images and Google Sheets features

by — Services 0 Comments

New system adds (mostly) relevant images to each domain.

I can’t recall any domain marketplace/landing page company iterating as fast as Squadhelp is with its new White Label Marketplace. The company seems to be pushing out big updates every week.

The two most recent ones are big.

First, you can now sync your portfolio using Google Sheets. You open a Google Sheet with the data, make your updates, and then Squadhelp pulls the new data in.

I know that many marketplaces have .csv options for syncing, but the Google Sheets method is much easier.

Second, Squadhelp added a feature to add relevant visual images to all of your domains. Visual images are an alternative to logos. Squadhelp charges $5 for logos, but domain investors can add visual images to all of their domains automatically and for free using this new feature.

Here’s what one of my domains looked like without the visual image and then with it:

Comparison of a Squadhelp lander with no image and with an image

 

And here’s how the list of domains on my marketplace looks before and after:

Comparison of squadhelp marketplace with and without images

I categorized all of my domains prior to initiating the images. The images aren’t perfect; you’ll note a picture of a tax return for “Scientific Staffing” and a dentist for “Vancouver Dermatologist”. You can change the images for individual domains to make them better.

Domains with visual images aren’t eligible for ad retargeting like logos are. (Part of the $5 logo fee goes toward the retargeting ads.) Squadhelp CEO Darpan Munjal told me that the company is considering an option for retargeting of domains without paid logos.

Squadhelp’s White Label Marketplaces are still in closed beta that requires an application. The company hopes to open up the beta in a couple of weeks.

Calculator.com owner dismisses stolen domain case against Stands4

by — Policy & Law 6 Comments

Domain owner dismisses case after domain buyer agrees to not contest her ownership.

Picture of shaded man in hoodie with the words "stolen domains"

The owner of Calculator.com has dismissed her lawsuit with prejudice against Stands4 Ltd.

Stands4 bought the domain name for $180,000 in June. But it turns out—at least on the face of it—that the domain name was stolen and the company unknowingly bought it from the thief.

Chloe Alston, who originally registered the domain with her father, filed a lawsuit after discovering that the domain name was in Stands4’s name. Stands4, which also owns Grammar.com, Lyrics.com and Scripts.com, spent $50,000 developing a new site on Calculator.com. That site was only briefly on the web before a judge in Florida issued a Temporary Restraining Order.

The dismissal states:

Stands4 hereby gives notice that it will no longer contest the Plaintiff’s ownership of the mark and domain name calculator.com, and Plaintiff hereby states that she is satisfied that Stands4 did not act in bad faith in relation to the acquisition of the calculator.com domain name.

This suggests that Alston understands that Stands4 didn’t know it was buying a stolen domain, and that Stands4 now agrees that the domain was stolen and it belongs to Alston.

What happens next? Stands4 is out $230,000. I can’t see them dropping the matter here.

Picking up short Pinyin domains

by — Expired Domains 2 Comments

They have a limited market unless they are more generic.

Graphic that says 'pinyin' in yellow type on purple background

Regular readers know that I don’t invest in Pinyin domains. This is because I want to sell my domains to the entire world but Pinyin names are often limited to the China market. Interestingly, I’m seeing Pinyin domains dropped regularly that can be registered for mere $10 a pop.

For example, the following two Pinyin domains were deleted on August and therefore were available for registration.

Geleshi.com was first recorded by Wayback Machine in 2016 but the site had no contents. In 2017, it was owned by the big seller HugeDomains.com. Geleshi is 3-pin and has 7 characters. Ge Le Shi may have multiple Chinese meanings, such as 歌乐视 (suggesting a music video channel) and 格乐事 (suggesting matters related to happy things).

Rongjixi.com was first recorded by Wayback Machine in 2018 but the site had no contents. Rongjixi is 3-pin and has 8 characters. Rong Ji Xi may have multiple Chinese meanings, such as 融计息 (related to finance) and 荣基喜 (a thriving foundation of happiness).

Having said that I don’t invest in Pinyin domains, I actually own a few of them – although not intentionally. Here are two for illustration.

Hemola(dot)com is 3-pin and has only 6 characters. He Mo La may have multiple Chinese meanings such as 鹤默拉 (associated with crane, silence, and pull). Because the name is very generic, it can be used in almost any business field.

Bibale(dot)com is 3-pin and has only 6 characters. It was first recorded by Wayback Machine in 2008 but I don’t see any site development over the years. Bi Ba Le may have multiple Chinese meanings such as 币霸乐 (associated with money, master, and fun), which can be used in money-related fields.

As you can see, my favorite Pinyin domains are very short and also pronounceable. They can be used both inside and outside China. How did I find them? I use ExpiredDomains.net, choose the Deleted Domains category, and specify 2-word English domains. (It’s still a mystery to me. I intend to see English-based domains but the search result does include Pinyin domains.)

SmartTiles.com UDRP: there are lots of uses for this domain

by — Policy & Law 3 Comments

Domain investor shows that there are lots of uses for the domain and he has a legitimate interest in holding the domain as an investment.

Blue image with the letters UDRP

A domain name investor has successfully defended his domain name SmartTiles.com in a UDRP. The case decision is notable for a couple of reasons:

1. It’s very brief.

2. It validates registering a domain name that’s a trademark in some circumstances, especially if lots of people use the term.

Ehren Schaiberger, who represented himself in the proceedings, argued that he had rights or legitimate interests in the domain name SmartTiles.com because he is in the business of registering, holding, and selling domain names, and there are many of uses for the disputed domain name unrelated to the Complainant, Quinco & Cie Inc.

Quinco & Cie Inc holds a trademark that predates Schaiberger’s registration.

The three-person National Arbitration Forum panel wrote:

Respondent argues that it uses the domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services because Respondent is in the business of registering, holding, and selling domain names. Registration of a domain name for the purposes of resale may qualify as legitimate use of the domain name under Policy ¶ 4(a)(ii). See Platterz Inc. v. Andrew Melcher, FA 1729887 (Forum June 19, 2017) (holding that “investing in genuinely generic terms, for purpose of resale, is a legitimate business and that the acquisition of domain names consisting of common, dictionary terms for resale can confer rights and legitimate interests upon entrepreneurs who engage in this activity”). Respondent argues that it purchased the disputed domain name for resale because it had a variety of potential uses. Respondent provides examples of commercial uses of the term “smart tiles” to illustrate the wide scope of possible uses. See Resp. Annex B. The Panel finds that Respondent has rights and legitimate interests in the disputed domain name under Policy ¶ 4(a)(ii).

Quinco & Cie inc uses the domain name TheSmartTiles.com.

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