Celgene sues to get CellGene.com following trying to reverse hijack it first

Firm hires fresh counsel following being found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.

In February of this year, pharmaceutical firm Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) was found to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking in its attempt to get the domain name CellGene.com. The World Intellectual Property Organization panel found that Celgene attempted to mislead the panel.

Now the firm is using fresh counsel at Wiley Rein to try its hand in U.S. courts.

The $66 billion firm filed an in rem lawsuit against the domain name in Virginia courts where .com registry Verisign is located.

The lawsuit is for violation of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) and trademark infringement.

In the suit, Celgene points out that it believes the domain owner is PortMedia, the firm that responded in the UDRP for the domain. It states that PortMedia has been found to have engaged in cybersquatting on at least five occasions and has handed over obvious trademark domains in other cases. (One of the examples it gives is for Esty.com — a case in which PortMedia actually won.)

The trademark infringement claim is notable. Even if the ACPA claim fails, Celgene shows screenshots of pay-per-click landers that had ads related to the pharmaceutical firm.