January 11, 2008

US: Adding an 'e' before a trademark in a domain name is dilution

Defendant was using evisa.com. Visa International Service Association sued and won:
Defendant’s use of the EVISA mark weakens the ability of the VISA mark to identify its respective goods and services because internet users who enter the domain name evisa.com are not brought to Plaintiff’s website. Rather, they are brought to Defendant’s language services website, which makes use of the VISA trademark with only an added “e.” As noted, the use of an “e” before a trademark is commonly used to denote the online version of a business. Thus, internet users entering the domain name would find, in that instance, the Visa mark does not correspond to its payment card services. This dilution therefore reduces the capacity of the VISA mark to identify the goods and services of its owner.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It is a much welcome judgment. Each and every corporate investing their heart and soul, money and time to build their brand and logo, but people like this simply copying their logo or name completely unacceptable...
Roadside Assistance