Reglikedomain industry desk

IBoats.com sues owner of iBoatCovers.com

IBoats.com sues owner of iBoatCovers.com

Firm tries to protect its descriptive brand.

iBoats.comiBoats.com has filed a lawsuit (pdf) against a Georgia firm for alleged cybersquatting and trademark infringement.

The firm claims that Shoplio’s iBoatCovers.com web site infringes on its registered tradmearks for iBoats and iBoats.com.

Shoplio runs a number of niche online stores, somewhat similar to how CSN Stores/Wayfair used to operate.

It has at least six online stores dedicated solely to covers, counting JustMotorcycleCovers.com, Buy-RV-Covers.com, and AllGrillCovers.com.

Apparently it irked iBoats.com when it started advertising on Google Adwords for searches for “iBoats” and “iBoats.com”.

iBoats.com also alleges that Shoplio blocked the plaintiff’s IP address from accessing its iBoatCovers.com web site, forwarding them to eBoatCovers.com instead.

A fairly descriptive term such as iBoats.com is harder to protect than generic or branded domains, but perhaps iBoats.com has a point here. It depends on all of the facts.

Also on the wire

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