ACPA Cybersquatting Lawsuit Brought Against Navigation Catalyst Systems (NCS)

THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND, INC. has filed a lawsuit against
NAVIGATION CATALYST SYSTEMS, INC., BASIC FUSION, INC., CONNEXUS CORP.
and FIRSTLOOK, INC. in the Federal District Court for the Eastern
District of Michigan. (Justia Docket Entries).

The lawsuit claims that Defendants developed a business model of
registering typographical variations of trademark protected high
traffic domains – a.k.a. typo-squatting – in violation of the
Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) and other state and
federal statutes.  These unlawful domain registrations include typographical variations of the Weather
Underground’s family of registered trademarks.  Examples of typo-squatted
domains registered by Defendants on Weather Underground’s trademarks
include www.weatherudnerground.com, www.wwwweatherunderground.com and
www.weatherundergroudn.com.

Weather Underground’s attorneys are accumulating information concerning NCS and its
unlawful business model.  If you or your company has been cybersquatted
by NCS or its related companies or you have other information
concerning this matter, you may contact Traverse Legal by email
or toll free at 866.936.7447. Other relevant information concerning
this lawsuit, including a copy of the the Complaint and all exhibits,
is posted below:

Court Pleadings: 

• Federal Court Complaint filed by The Weather Underground, Inc. Against Navigation Catalyst Systems, Inc., Basic Fusion, Inc., Connexus Corp, & First Look, Inc.
• Exhibit A – Wunderground’s Blog Directory
• Exhibit B – Printout of wunderground.com
• Exhibit C – Quantcast Results for wunderground.com
• Exhibit D – Printout of Display on Third Party Web Site
• Exhibit E – Printout of Wunderground’s Web Site After User Clicked on Display
• Exhibit F – List of Domains Owned by Wunderground
• Exhibit G – True Copy of U.S. Reg. No. 2,297.683
• Exhibit H – True Copy of Sections 8 and 15 for U.S. Reg. No. 2,297,683
• Exhibit I – True Copy of U.S. Reg. No. 2,324,272
• Exhibit J – True Copy of Sections 8 and 15 for U.S. Reg. No. 2,324,272
• Exhibit K – True Copy of U.S. Reg. No. 2,281,088
• Exhibit L – True Copy of Sections 8 and 15 for U.S. Reg. No. 2,281,088
• Exhibit M – True Copy of U.S. Reg. No. 2,447,954
• Exhibit N – True Copy of Sections 8 and 15 for U.S. Reg. No. 2,447,954
• Exhibit O – True Copy of U.S. Reg. No. 3,527,030
• Exhibit P – Printout of Serial No. 77-631,410
• Exhibit Q – Printout of qwunderground.com
• Exhibit R – Table of Infringing Domain Names Registered by Navigation Catalyst Systems
• Exhibit S – Example Parked Page udergroundweather.com
• Exhibit T – Printout of Links from Parked Pageudergroundweather.com
• Exhibit U – WHOIS for wunderphotos.com
• Exhibit V – Printout of Web Site from wunderphotos.com

Background Facts:

• Defendants Are Potentially Liable for Statutory Damages For Bad Faith Cybersquatting on Trademark
  Protected Domain Names Under the ACPA.
• Defendants used the Infringing Domains to redirect to web
  sites that consisted of either contextual pay-per-click parking pages
  or paid search engine listings.
• The majority of the links on the  Infringing Domains were those of Wunderground’s competitors.
• On October 13, 2008, a UDRP Panel, composed of The Honorable
  Charles K. McCotter, Jr. (Ret.), found that NCS had engaged in bad
  faith cybersquatting and ordered that 41 Infringing Domain Names
  which were the subject of that proceeding be transferred to
  Wunderground.
• Defendants current registration of other typo-domains is
  easily identified by searching for typo-variations of Alexa.com’s
  “Global Top Sites” list of the highest ranked traffic web sites on the
  Internet and shows that Defendants continue to engage in
  cybersquatting.  A representative sampling includes, but is not limited
  to, the following typo-domains:
  • Wikipedua.org, Wikiperdia.com, Ikipedia.com, Wikipedika.com,
    Wikipwdia.com, Wikioedia.com infringing the USPTO trademark
    registration for WIKIPEDIA (Reg. No. 3,040,722).
  • Facebooko.com, Facevbook.com, Favebook.com and Facebhook.com infringing the USPTO trademark for FACEBOOK (Reg. No. 3,122,052).
  • Myspacer.org, Myspace3.com, Myspce.org, Myspqce.com,
    Myspacxe.com, M6yspace.com, Wwwlmyspace.com, Myspzce.com, Myspacwe.com
    infringing the USPTO trademark for MYSPACE (Reg. No. 2,911,041).
  • Eszpn.com, esxpn.com, espb.org infringing the USPTO trademark registration for ESPN (Reg. No. 1,345,096).
  • Oerkut.com, 9orkut.com infringing the USPTO trademark registration for ORKUT (Reg. No. 2,970,421).
  • Flikckr.com, Glickr.net infringing the USPTO trademark registration for FLICKR (Reg. No. 3455275).
  • Mi9ninova.org, Mininovs.org, Mimninova.org, Minionova.org,
    Mninova.net, Mininiva.org, Mioninova.org, Mioninova.com, Mininovca.org,
    Mininopva.com, Mininnova.com infringing the USPTO trademark for
    MININOVA (Reg. No. 3,491,970).
  • Beob.org, Bebho.com, Bewbo.com, Bnebo.com, Bgebo.com,
    Gbebo.com, Bebpo.com, Bebno.com infringing the USPTO trademark for BEBO
    (Reg. No. 3,138,515).
  • Yourube.com, Y6outube.com, Youtubge.com, Youtune.net,
    Youthbe.com, Tyoutube.com com infringing the USPTO trademark for
    YOUTUBE (Reg. No. 3,525,802).
  • Neftflix.com infringing the USPTO trademark for NETFLIX (Reg. No. 2,552,950).
  • Huffinftonpost.com infringing the USPTO trademark for THE HUFFINGTON POST (Reg. No. 3,095,331). 
• NCS has been sued nine (9) other times for bad faith cybersquatting.