back to article Hollywood takes a beating in Oscar cybersquatting battle

The Oscars has lost a five-year cybersquatting lawsuit against the world's biggest domain registrar, GoDaddy. In a decision [PDF] handed down by Judge Andre Birotte in a Los Angeles district court this week, a claim by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' (AMPAS) that GoDaddy had infringed on its trademarks by …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    May I be the first to say

    HA-HA!!!

    1. WalterAlter
      Facepalm

      A Nation of Hypochondriacs

      There is a subculture of injury, victimhood, indignation and emotional extortion that has pretzeled our sense of justice into a form of hypochondria on the part of narcissists and egomaniacs that basically defines the "progressive" outlook. This rampant and demented hypersensitivity is the engine of single issue politics and is being used by tyrants, post modern structuralists and closet exhibitionists to polarize and disintegrate modern society in a grand romanticist, conservative initiative to bomb humanity back into the Stone Age. That's my rant and I'm sticking to it.

      1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

        Re: A Nation of Hypochondriacs

        post modern structuralists

        Perhaps you meant this as a joke, but if not: this phrase is nonsense. There are postmodernists, and there are structuralists, and there are post-structuralists; but since all structuralists are modern, "modern structuralists" is redundant, and so "post modern structuralists" would have to mean either "post-structuralists" (so just write that) or "postmodern structuralists" (of which there are vanishingly few, if any).

        And as structuralists are the very antithesis of "hypersensitive", it's hard to see how structuralists of any sort could be guilty of the despicable crimes you describe.

        And "closet exhibitionist" is a bit of an oxymoron.

        So maybe this was a joke after all? Or just a beautiful plume of ignorance? Poe's Law wins again.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    AMPAS didnt get it's act together

    Whilst sometimes these cases are relevant, if you use an everyday name in your company name, expect people called "Oscar" to register theirs too

    It's nicknamed "Oscar", it was never produced as an Oscar, it's an "Academy Award", any Academy can call it's awards "Academy Award", my kid's school is an Academy, it gives out "Academy Awards"

    long as they don't call them a "Motion Picture Association Academy Awards"

    Get over it, hopefully that Mouse Inc company gets a few knockbacks too, but as they line ICANN members pockets we may have a bit of a wait

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: AMPAS didnt get it's act together

      In fact somebody called Oscar could probably sue the academy

      1. Shane McCarrick

        Re: AMPAS didnt get it's act together

        Having had to change a company name because of the 'Mc' in my surname, under threat from a large US chain of 'restaurants'- I really can't see any 'Oscars' having the resources to challenge anyone.

    2. John Tserkezis

      Re: AMPAS didnt get it's act together

      "long as they don't call them a Motion Picture Association Academy Awards"

      I wish you hadn't had said that, now I have to drink out of the toilet to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The island formerly called Java

    Reminds me of that other legal scattergun attempt to close domains containing the name "java".

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Begging the question

    How big of douche bags does your organization have to be to make GoDaddy the good guy?

    1. Tom 13

      Re: Begging the question

      Yep. I find myself asking how long it's going to take GoDaddy to counter-sue for knowingly making a false accusation in court.

  5. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Who's going to grass me up, I gave my son the name Oscar Acadamy. I'm Mr Awards.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. SleepyJohn

    "Our greatest faults we soonest see in others"

    "The Academy Awards believes that anything at all to do with its name represents a calculated effort to extort millions of dollars"

    Ref: A Dictionary of American Proverbs

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "Our greatest faults we soonest see in others"

      The Hollywood Reporter in a lawsuit article years ago said that the Academy was claiming GoDaddy earned $90 million on these infringing sites, and now it's shown to be <$400. How rich is that?

  7. frank ly

    Why?

    "To the fury of AMPAS, GoDaddy inserted into one of its filings in January this year that the Academy has offered to settle the case for $20m in 2010; $12m in 2012; $10.7m in 2013; and $6m in 2014."

    Was that supposed to be confidential information?

    1. Hairy Airey

      Re: Why?

      Probably not - most courts these days insist that efforts to reconcile parties be made public so that they can see how unreasonable either or both sides are. There may well be other legal reasons to be forced to disclose the amounts.

      There was a classic case a few years ago involving Wembley Stadium in which both sides spent a million pounds just on photocopying (possibly half each, but still a ridiculous amount) - the Court of Appeal did point out to them that it would have been cheaper to use the specialist technology courts.

      When this whole case amounts to $348 that someone else made you can see that the only winners are the lawyers.

      1. Tom 13

        Re: classic case a few years ago involving Wembley Stadium

        In several instances you Brits have far more sensible courts than we 'Merkins do. This is quite probably one of them.

  8. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    And now...

    After this sudden outburst of sense, can all those London folk who were stopped form using the word 'Olympic' in their businesses a few years ago perhaps start to claim against the IOC? All those taxi firms and pizza shops and other small businesses whom the IOC banned from using names they had been using for years?

    Demonstrating a loss of business because someone has a domain name that might, if you squint at it, be mistaken for yours is always going to be tricky, but GoDaddy's efforts have shown that even for something as high profile as the Academy Awards any loss is insignificant.

    Obviously deliberately passing off a website, for whatever reason, is a different kettle of fish, but perhaps this ruling opens a possibility to see some conversations along the lines of:

    Bigcompany.com: "Hey, littlecompany, are you using our trademarks?"

    Littlecompany.com: "No, I'm using my name, the same as my family has for the last seven generations."

    Bigcompany.com: "Rightho, that's fair enough, perhaps you be so kind as to stick a little 'not associated with' label up on your site to avoid any confusion?"

    Littlecompany.com: "Yeah, no problem, you'll do the same of course? A pleasure to do business with you."

    Instead of:

    BC.com: "Oi, cease and desist, here's my legal bill."

    LC.com: "Wtf?"

    BC.com: "It just doubled..."

    1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

      Re: And now...

      I believe it's in the contract the host nation signs with the IoC that it amends its laws to do the bidding of the IoC.

      1. John Crisp

        Re: And now...

        Olympics....Think it was enacted circa 1995 or so. A lot longer ago you than you would think, and that probably applies in most countries too.

        2012 stuff was enacted about 1/2 a second after the Olympics were awarded.

        Can't remember specifically now but as we are in the promotional mechandise business it cost us a fortune in orders that customers wanted but we could not process/accept. People just didn't order anything at all..... a huge loss to the economy (leave aside what you think of promo products !!)

        Queenie was much better doing an open licence for the Diamond Jubilee. Just a shame it could not be combined with games.

        Olympics was a scam of the highest degree and still makes my blood boil.

        1. Youngone Silver badge
          Facepalm

          Re: And now...

          All international sports events seems to have taken a leaf out of the Olympics' book.

          New Zealand hosted the Rugby World Cup in 2011 and were forced to pass a whole host of incredibly draconian laws mostly to do with who could display what in public.

          The other annoying thing about that was the amount of public money pissed up against a wall invested for illusory benefits.

          We spent about $100 million on Eden Park alone, and now have the worst rugby stadium in the world, and not enough space to play cricket. Awesome.

          1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

            @Youngone Re: And now...

            John Oliver did a piece in his show about how FIfa does the same thing (I think it's this one): Brazil used to ban alcohol from stadiums until Fifia made Brazil change the law to appease Budweiser.

  9. Dave Bell

    Here in the UK there are several Scots butchers who have been hassled by a large fast-food brand.

    It's the sort of thing that makes you wonder whether civilisation has reached the USA yet.

    1. g e

      Unfortunately

      it's more the converse of that ...

  10. Version 1.0 Silver badge

    SOP

    Earlier this year I contacted GoDaddy to point out to them that one of their domains was set up as a fake company and trying to place fake orders with my company for goods to be shipped to Harverd University (sic, yes really) - the fake site was done well enough to pass the initial checks but when someone orders 100k of gear out of the blue with no prior contact it does raise a few flags.

    GoDaddy's response:

    "Thank you for contacting GoDaddy's Domain Name Abuse department.

    Unfortunately we cannot assist with this issue through this department.

    GoDaddy does not allow illegal content on our customer's websites. However, as a Registrar/Hosting provider, it is not our place to determine if the site you have mentioned is actually engaging in illegal activities."

  11. Fatman
    Happy

    Now, it is time to pay the piper

    I would hope that GoDaddy had initially filed a counterclaim for legal fees and expenses in the event AMPAS lost.

    Now, it would be time to send them (AMPAS) the bill, and, in true Hollywood fashion, inflate the damages, just like the movie studios do when they sue pirates.

    What is good for the goose, .....

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    GoDaddy didn’t in any way promote the domains

    so how come google adwords are mixed up in this?

  13. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    Millions in damages, eh ?

    This case is a brilliant landmark in how much MPAA/RIAA etc are pushing the envelope to claim horrifying damages due to piracy, whereas the real figures have nothing to do with their hysterical claims.

    Good on GoDaddy to have had the balls not to bend over and settle. That is the kind of behavior which encourages those bastards to go ahead with the hype. Now we finally have a proper case where the claims have been laid bare and found lacking. This will hopefully throw some water on the whole process, and it is not a bad thing either to demonstrate that just because you're Hollywood doesn't mean that you can parade around the courts and pocket millions by extorting your victims out of the judge's view.

  14. Velv
    Coat

    Since the MPAA and its members clearly have the rights to all action thrillers and high drama, when are they going to sue Oscar Pistorius?

    Too soon?

  15. 404

    5 years...

    ... FIVE years to figure this out - Academy lawyer smells blood in the water, talks decision makers(sic) into it - five years of sending paperwork back and forth, lawyers win. Both sides. They sit around, making shit up, then they go into politics, making more shit up to let the next generation of bloodsuckers argue more shit about in the courts.

    Unless you're a little guy who gains the attention of some Kardassian-type (it's spelled correctly, actual Cardassians use less makeup) on a whim, those making under $100k/year ain't got a chance in hell against these people - not enough time & money to survive the encounter.

    I fucking hate lawyers...

  16. Blank-Reg
    Happy

    I drink AMPAS tears. The most delicious part of this is the realisation that seems to come across AMPAS: "But, we are really important, the centre of all, the special snowflake! We can't conceive of anything outside of our little sphere. How dare these upstarts exist and, and, they've successfully defied us!" Queue temper tantrums...

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