Business Law 13th Edition by Frank Cross, Kenneth Clarkson, Roger LeRoy Miller

تمرين 10

Hasbro, Inc. v. Internet Entertainment Group, Ltd. United States District Court, Western District of Washington, ___ F.Supp.2d ___ (1996).
BACKGROUND AND FACTS In 1949, Hasbro, Inc.-then known as the Milton Bradley Company-published its first version of Candy Land, a children's board game. Hasbro is the owner of the trademark "Candy Land," which has been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since 1951. Over the years, Hasbro has produced several versions of the game, including Candy Land puzzles, a travel version, a computer game, and a handheld electronic version. In the mid-1990s, Brian Cartmell and his employer, the Internet Entertainment Group, Ltd., used the term candyland.com as a domain name for a sexually explicit Internet site. Anyone who performed an online search using the word candyland was directed to this adult Web site. Hasbro filed a trademark dilution claim in a federal court, seeking a permanent injunction to prevent the defendants from using the Candy Land trademark.
IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE COURT
DWYER, U.S. District Judge
2. Hasbro has demonstrated a probability of proving that defendants Internet Entertainment Group, Ltd., Brian Cartmell and Internet Entertainment Group, Inc. (collectively referred to as "defendants") have been diluting the value of Hasbro's CANDY LAND mark by using the name CANDYLAND to identify a sexually explicit Internet site, and by using the name string "candyland.com" as an Internet domain name which, when typed into an Internet-connected computer, provides Internet users with access to that site.
* * * * 4. Hasbro has shown that defendants' use of the CANDY LAND name and the domain name candyland.com in connection with their Internet site is causing irreparable injury to Hasbro.
5. The probable harm to Hasbro from defendants' conduct outweighs any inconvenience that defendants will experience if they are required to stop using the CANDYLAND name. [Emphasis added.]
* * * * THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Hasbro's motion for preliminary injunction is granted.
DECISION AND REMEDY The federal district court granted Hasbro an injunction against the defendants, agreeing that the domain name candyland was "causing irreparable injury to Hasbro." The judge ordered the defendants to immediately remove all content from the candyland.com Web site and to stop using the Candy Land mark.
THE ECONOMIC DIMENSION.How can companies protect themselves from others who create Web sites that have similar domain names, and what limits each companyfs ability to be fully protected?
What If the Facts Were Different? Suppose that the site using candyland.com had not been sexually explicit but had sold candy. Would the result have been the same? Explain.