Battle over .delmonte continues.
Del Monte International is taking a dispute over new top level domain names to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
Del Monte International (DMI) applied for the .delmonte domain name. Del Monte Corporation (DMC), which did not apply for .delmonte, filed a Legal Rights Objection against the application and won. (Both companies were once part of the same company, RJR Nabisco.)
DMI subsequently filed a lawsuit against DMC to overturn the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Legal Rights Objection decision. A judge dismissed that case, and then on Monday denied DMI’s Motion for Reconsideration (pdf).
As a result of the denied Motion for Reconsideration, DMI filed an appeal to the 9th circuit yesterday to continue its quest to be able to get the .delmonte domain name.
Del Monte International’s efforts make winning a new top level domain name contention set auction seem like a walk in the park.
Who needs this IP garbage? Thanks for yet another reason and reminder why the gtlds are doomed to fail.
Oh joy…. the plaintiff has an opportunity to be told a third time that their claim is goofy.
The district court could just as easily have said, “Okay, if you had received the contract to operate the TLD, it wouldn’t violate the ACPA” as a hypothetical proposition. Succeeding on that claim still would not get them the TLD. That’s why I have never understood this suit in the first place – winning it wouldn’t get them what they want.
It’s possible that, at the end of this, DMI’s claims won’t amount to a can of beans….