Sporty's Farm LLC v. Sportsman's Market, Inc.

 

In this first ruling concerning the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court found that Sporty's Farm, a Christmas tree company, registered an Internet domain name in bad faith in order to take advantage of Sportsman's Market, Inc.'s well-known mark. 

In 1996 Omega Enterprises created a subsidiary, Sporty Farms, to sell Christmas trees and started using the domain name "sportys.com."  Sportsman's Market has used the federal registered trademark, "sporty's" since 1985.  Upon discovering the use of the "sportys.com" domain name, Sportsman's and filed for trademark dilution after Sporty Farms brought an action for declaratory judgement.   The Court found for Sportsman's regarding the trademark dilution, but it did not award any punitive damages.  The case was appealed and during the pending court action Congress passed the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.  Applying the new law to the appeal, the court found that the term "sporty's" was inherently distinctive and the use of "sportys.com" was confusingly similar to the term "sporty's."  The court also decided that Sporty Farms acted in bad faith with intent to profit from use of the sporty.com domain name.

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Sporty's Farm, LLC v. Sportsman's Market, Inc. Decision