A case of domain name envy?
The owner of Curated.io says Curated.com (pictured) is infringing its trademarks and cybersquatting.
A company that does business at Curated.io has sued (pdf) Deal.com, which uses the domain Curated.com. It claims that the latter is infringing its trademarks and cybersquatting. Among its demands: that Curated.com be transferred to it.
Plaintiff Curated Works Inc claims:
As a result of defendant’s conduct or that of its collaborators or others working in concert with defendant, plaintiff has been “delisted” from the first-level page position in Google
searches for the term “Curated,” as a result of which Internet users are routinely referred, not to plaintiff’s website, but to the goods and services offered by defendant or its collaborators.
Curated.com is indeed listed #1 when I search for “curated” on Google. As for Curated.io? It is below many other companies using this brand including Curated.co and even ShopTheCurated.net.
Reviewing the two businesses, it doesn’t seem like there’s overlap in what they do. Curated.io offers outsourced teams for web development, marketing, ecommerce, SEO, etc. Curated.com offers sports and outdoor pros who help you find the best products to buy. It’s difficult for me to believe that people would be confused by the two businesses.
Perhaps this is a case of domain name envy.
