GoDaddy, the world’s largest technology provider dedicated to small businesses, won a cybersquatting feud that started in 2010 brought on by the Academy of Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as first reported by Jonathan Stempel of Reuters
The Academy accused GoDaddy of bad faith by allowing customers who purchased domains with AMPAS trademarked names such as “Oscars” or “Academy Awards” to collect revenue from advertising by way of a “parked page”.
The Academy went for the jugular and wanted $100,000 per infringement which equaled around $29 million in damages.
In a 129-page brief by U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr., the ruling said that “AMPAS failed to meet its burden of proving that GoDaddy acted with a bad faith intent to profit from any AMPAS marks.”
GoDaddy’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Nima Kelly told AZTB, “GoDaddy has always supported brand owners in protecting their intellectual property rights. Today’s decision validates GoDaddy’s industry-leading practices, which seek to protect the legitimate interests of both our customers and brand owners. We are gratified that the court has resolved the case in our favor.”
Read more GoDaddy news at AZ Tech Beat
Contributions from Reuter by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Editing by Grant McCool
