PLA.com Lawsuit Against Nat Cohen’s Telepathy Dismissed

Project Leadership Associates drops case over PLA.com.

In September Project Leadership Associates Inc. sued Nat Cohen’s Telepathy, Inc. in an effort to get the domain name PLA.com.

After many months of back and forth, including counterclaims by Telepathy against Project Leadership Associates, the case has been dropped. Cohen released the following statement:

Project Leadership Associates and Telepathy Inc. are pleased to announce the dismissal with prejudice of all claims and counterclaims in the domain name civil litigation previously pending in the Northern District of Illinois as Project Leadership Associates v. Telepathy Inc., Case No. 10 CV 05810. Both parties have agreed that Telepathy Inc.’s registration and use of the domain name pla.com violates no enforceable rights of Project Leadership Associates.

After the lawsuit was filed Cohen alleged that he had a deal to sell the domain to Project Leadership Associates for $80,000, but that the company later backed out.

He also alleged that the company misrepresented itself when it filed for a federal trademark for PLA.

This is a common trap companies fall into when trying to get generic domain names through lawsuits. A sophisticated defense can poke holes in their trademark registrations, putting the company’s entire trademark plans at risk.