Lasse Penttinen
10 Jun 2003 12:47
The MPAA is sending rather aggressive emails in order to capture domain names that have a trademark on. The owner of ratednc-17.com received some heavy text from the MPAA.
"If you have registered the domain name in bad faith, your actions may subject you to the loss of your domain name as well as to civil penalties of up to $100,000 under the recently adopted Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999. If you actually operate a website which offers any goods, services, or information, your actions will constitute trademark infringement and/or dilution under the Trademark Act of 1946."
The funny thing here is that the owner of the domain is not using it for business. He registered the domain as it is his Quake alias and he wanted to dedicate a domain to.
In legal terms the MPAA does have a case here. They do have a trademark "NC-17" registered in 1999. On the other hand, this really makes one wonder the business ethics and morale of the organization.
TheRegister