Martha Stewart Chokes on EverydayFood.com
Media firm loses attempt to get domain names through arbitration.
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has lost a domain name dispute over the names EverydayFood.com and Everyday-Food.com. The firm operates a magazine and TV show called “Everyday Food”.
Martha Stewart Living didn’t just lose, it choked. A three person arbitration panel found that the firm didn’t prove any of the three elements required to win at arbitration.
The firm claimed that it had rights to the domain names based in part on an “intent to use” trademark application filed with The United States Patent and Trademark Office. These filings were made prior to the respondent registering the domain names, but both applications were under refusal when the domains were registered, argued the respondent’s attorney John Berryhill. Berryhill claimed:
The Complaint is premised on the proposition that the mere filing of a registration application, which anyone may do at any time for any word or phrase regardless of use, registrability, or eventual disposition of the application, acts as a bar to registration of a domain name. There is no principle of law or doctrine under the Policy which supports such a premise, and quite a body of decisions which contradict this premise.
I guess foodies everywhere will have to continue typing three more letters to access the magazine’s web site: EverydayFoodMAG.com. Hopefully they’ll still have time to make American Flag Tarts for the upcoming holiday.
