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Safe Harbor for Service Providers under the Anticybersquatting Act
GoDaddy.com, which is the largest registrar in the United States with more than 60 million domain names under management, has been the prevailing defendant in two major lawsuits under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), 15 U.S.C. '1125(d) Cyberpiracy Prevention. See, Petroliam Nasional Berhad, 737 F.3d 546 (9th Cir. 2013), and Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS), CV 10-03738 (C.D.Ca. Sept. 10, 2015), decided on Sept. 10 of this year after a bench trial a month earlier. In both cases, plaintiffs sought to hold a defendant liable for contributory or secondary infringement rather than “direct” cybersquatting under the ACPA. Although the factual circumstances underlying the claims are different, the principal reason for plaintiffs' lack of success lies in a fundamental misunderstanding of the ACPA.
The ACPA was Congress' statutory response to the scourge of registering, trafficking in, or using domain names with the bad faith intent of profiting from marks. See, 15 U.S.C. '1125(d)(1)(A)(i and ii). While the ACPA is part of the Trademark Act of 1946 (the Lanham Act), 15 U.S.C. ”1051-1129, cybersquatting ' or cyber piracy as the statute is denominated ' is not a traditional trademark infringement but a statutory violation of another kind. The intent necessary to prove trademark infringement and cybersquatting is measured by entirely different standards.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.