Seattle Trademark Lawyer

The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc., yesterday moved for a preliminary injunction against Vancouver, Washington-based domain name registrar Dotster, Inc., for its alleged registration of “at least 34 domain names” that are confusingly similar to Neiman Marcus’s famous trademarks in violation of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1125(d). The motion, filed in the Western District of Washington, alleges that defendants Dotster, RegistrarAds, Inc., and Scott Fish collectively “operate one of the largest and most nefarious cybersquatting operations the Internet has ever seen” — one that owns registrations for the domain names neamannmarcus.com, neimanmaracus.com, neimanmarcuse.com, neimanmarcuslastchance.com, neimanmaracus.com, neimanmarcuse.com, and others. Plaintiff owners of the NEIMAN-MARCUS, NEIMAN MARCUS and BERGDORF GOODMAN marks, including Bergdorf Goodman, Inc., and NM Nevada Trust, allege that defendants host web sites at each domain name that display pop-up ads and links featuring goods or services that compete with those sold in connection with plaintiffs’ marks. Defendants denied the allegations in plaintiffs’ complaint in its July 20 answer. Defendants’ response to plaintiffs’ motion is due in January.