Company alleges that AdMedia created a fraudulent assignment agreement and submitted it to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Yahoo Ad Tech and Yahoo IP Holdings have filed suit against Ad.com Interactive Media (doing business as AdMedia) and its CEO, Danny Bibi, accusing them of improperly obtaining rights to the advertising.com trademark. The complaint, filed in federal court, alleges that AdMedia executed a fraudulent scheme to secure U.S. trademark registration No. 2,914,052.
According to the lawsuit, AdMedia prepared a counterfeit “Trademark Assignment Agreement” that purported to transfer rights from Yahoo IP Holdings to AdMedia. The document allegedly included a forged electronic signature of a Yahoo executive. The complaint asserts that AdMedia then submitted the falsified assignment to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to effectuate the transfer and register the mark in its name.
Yahoo further claims that after obtaining the registration, AdMedia sought additional trademark registrations for closely related domains, including advertising.com, advertising.net, advert.com, and advertise.com. The suit notes that AdMedia already controls advertising.com and advertising.net. It states that advert.com currently does not resolve, while advertise.com directs to a HilcoDigital sales landing page.
The history behind ownership of the advertising.com domain is also addressed. Yahoo previously owned advertising.com but the domain was later acquired by Underdog Media; AdMedia purchased Underdog Media last year. The lawsuit contains several redactions, but the unredacted portions indicate disputes about the transactions that led to Yahoo losing domain control while maintaining trademark rights, and they reference an agreement that Yahoo says AdMedia breached.
Beyond the specific assignment allegation, Yahoo’s complaint describes a broader pattern of dishonest conduct by AdMedia. It cites prior disputes involving AdMedia’s in-house counsel, including a reverse domain name hijacking matter in which a forged email was alleged. Yahoo presents those earlier incidents as part of a pattern supporting its claims in the current action.
The complaint seeks relief for the claimed fraudulent assignment and related trademark infringements, and it asks the court to address damages and other remedies appropriate under trademark and fraud laws. The litigation will determine the validity of the contested registration and whether AdMedia’s actions violated federal trademark statutes and other legal obligations.
Further details are contained in the court filing, where Yahoo outlines the timeline of events, the alleged forgeries, and the specific transactions it says transferred domain and trademark-related interests. As the case proceeds, the filings and any court rulings will clarify the factual record and the legal consequences for the parties involved.