Traverse Legal Wins Summary Judgment on ACPA Cybersquatting Claim

After a two year legal battle, Traverse Legal has won summary judgment for an Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (“ACPA”) claim on behalf of Palace Resorts.  The Southern District of Florida found that Palace Resorts had carried its burden and was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.

To succeed on a summary judgment motion under ACPA, Palace Resorts had to prove that (1) the defendant registered, trafficked in, or used a domain name; (2) which is identical or confusingly similar to a mark owned by Palace Resorts; (3) the mark was distinctive at the time of the defendant’s registration of the domain name; and (4) the defendant has committed the acts with a bad faith intent to profit from the plaintiff’s mark.

In short, the Court found that the Defendants registered forty (40) domain names that were confusingly similar to trademarks belonging to Palace Resorts and that “the evidence overwhelming indicates that Defendants registered and used these domain names with a bad-faith intent to profit off of Palace Resorts’ trademarks and corresponding goodwill.”