At our law firm, we advocate for our clients who may be on either side of lawsuits over domain name ownership as well as those concerning cybersquatting. These legal proceedings, which often involve trademark infringement, are disputes about rightful ownership and use of domain names.
Depending on the circumstances, it may be possible to have the domain name transferred to the rightful owner, to get an injunction in which the court orders an entity wrongfully using a domain name, to get an award of money damages or reimbursement of legal fees.
King of popcorn?
Domain Name Wire is reporting that the parties to a dispute involving the estate of deceased entertainer Michael Jackson and a popcorn company confidentially settled a lawsuit two years ago and that the defendant, Gourmet Gift Baskets, has now transferred the disputed domain name KingOFPop.com to the estate.
TMZ said at the time the suit was filed that the popcorn company had acquired the URL from a Michael Jackson fan website in 2012. The defendant reportedly asserted that “pop” is another word for “popcorn products.” According to TMZ, the complaint asked the court to order the defendant to remove the website as well as for money damages, but the estate apparently was comfortable with the site remaining live so long as the defendant transferred the domain name to the plaintiff.
The Domain Name Wire article says that it is likely that the settlement provided for a two-year transition period so that the defendant could “transition its use of the domain.” KingOfPop.com currently redirects users to MichaelJackson.com and the defendant is using Gourmetgiftbaskets.com.