After out-of-state blogger Tabatha Marshall allegedly published a blog accusing website operator Internet Solutions Corp (“ISC”) of “on-going criminal activity, specifically ‘phishing’ and consumer fraud,” ISC sued Ms. Marshall for defamation in federal court in Orlando, Florida. Ms. Marshall, a Washington-state resident, moved to dismiss the suit for lack of “personal jurisdiction.” In other words,…
read moreDo you have a company or sell a product and want to register a domain, but find that the domain is already taken? If the person refuses to give up the domain, what can you do? One possible recourse is provided in the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA).
The ACPA is a federal law enacted in 1999. It allows someone with a valid trademark that is distinctive or famous to sue someone who purchased a domain that is identical, confusingly similar, or dilutive of the owner’s mark, in instances where the alleged cybersquatter used or registered the domain name with a bad faith intent to profit.
read moreFrom 2004 to 2009, Plaintiff Craig Smallwood clocked more than 20,000 hours on Lineage II, a fantasy massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), he claims in a current lawsuit. For perspective, that averages out to nine hours a day, seven days a week, for six full years.
Lineage II gave Smallwood such great feelings of euphoria and satisfaction that he became psychologically dependent and addicted, he claims. The psychological dependence and addiction caused by MMORPGs has been recognized; however, the games makers, NC Interactive Inc. and NCsoft Corporation, never gave any notice or warning of such dangers, Smallwood alleges.
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