CBS Loses Internet Domain Name Dispute in Federal Court; Court Decides There is No Infringement or Dilution.Business Editors and High-Tech Writers CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. Claimed Domain Name Was Critical to its Business as Television and the Internet Converge LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 2000 The Network Network company, a small computer training, consulting and systems networking organization, has won its fight in the Federal court to retain its rights to keep its Web site address, www.tnn.com, after facing a two-year battle with CBS and The Nashville Network, CBS's country music cable company. "Taking on a media giant like CBS is clearly not an easy task, but we have used TNN as our trademark since at least 1989, and registered www.tnn.com in early 1994. Now, with the merging of television and the Internet, Web domain names which match a television or cable company's call letters call letters pl.n. The identifying code letters or numbers of a radio or television transmitting station, assigned by a regulatory body. Also called call sign. have become valued," said Clive Hermann, president and founder of The Network Network. CBS (through their wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. ) in their filings with the court claimed that the domain name was rightfully theirs because users of the Internet would go to the www.tnn.com Web site and confuse it with The Nashville Network. CBS also claimed that TNN was a famous mark used exclusively to identify The Nashville Network. CBS argued that without the domain name they are "completely eliminated" from identifying their goods and services In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility (unless the "good" is a "bad"). It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax. on the Internet and that puts them at a "critical disadvantage" in the "highly competitive television industry." United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. District Judge, Nora M. Manella did not accept CBS's argument, concluding that "Nashville's (The Nashville Network) claim may be reduced to the argument that because its three initial registered mark (i.e. "TNN") is now famous, and would be the most convenient Web site name for The Nashville Network, it should be entitled en·ti·tle tr.v. en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling, en·ti·tles 1. To give a name or title to. 2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: to enjoin To direct, require, command, or admonish. Enjoin connotes a degree of urgency, as when a court enjoins one party in a lawsuit by ordering the person to do, or refrain from doing, something to prevent permanent loss to the other party or parties. The Network Network from using the same three initials as part of the domain name it registered nearly half a dozen years ago and has been using continuously ever since -- a domain name based on Network's prior use in commerce of the same three initials since 1989. "The fact that Nashville missed its opportunity to select the domain name it would now like to have is not sufficient to state a claim of infringement under the federal trademark law, particularly where, as here there can be no genuine risk of confusion -- initial or otherwise -- by any consumer of reasonable prudence reasonable prudence Forensic medicine A standard of care which derives from a legal doctrine expounded upon by Judge Learned Hand in 1932 which has become a founding principle of medical malpractice law. See Negligence. , and no argument that Network has sought or is now seeking to trade on Nashville's good name." Hermann said: "I can certainly understand why CBS would think it crucial to have the www.tnn.com domain name. Television networks are already using the Web not only to advertise their television shows, but also to provide additional content coordinated with shows being broadcast simultaneously. It is not difficult to see a time when television shows will be broadcast over the Internet. "There is no doubt that it would be valuable for CBS to have a Web site for The Nashville Network with the same domain name as The Nashville Network's call letters. But simply because they are a big company and very much want something which belongs to us doesn't necessarily mean they are entitled to it. We are not 'cybersquatters.' We have been using both the TNN trademark and the domain name for years without objection, and the Web site has become crucial to our business, as well. "Usually, companies in very different industries are entitled to use the same trademark, because the possibility of confusion is slight. We feel that computer network consulting and country music programming are about as different as could possibly be. Nobody should think we are 'The Nashville Network' anymore than people think that Yale Locks Yale lock Noun Trademark a type of cylinder lock using a flat serrated key [after L. Yale, inventor] and Yale University Yale University, at New Haven, Conn.; coeducational. Chartered as a collegiate school for men in 1701 largely as a result of the efforts of James Pierpont, it opened at Killingworth (now Clinton) in 1702, moved (1707) to Saybrook (now Old Saybrook), and in 1716 was are associated." The Network Network has filed a motion to have CBS pay its attorneys fees and costs. The motion is currently scheduled to be heard on May 1, 2000. Visit TNN's Web site for backgrounder back·ground·er n. An informal news briefing for reporters by an official often speaking off the record. Noun 1. backgrounder and court documents at http://www.tnn.com |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion