Reality check – Court defines distinctiveness standard for marks

Description

Abstract: After a self-proclaimed “Internet Entrepreneur” registered a variety of domain names with “veri,” he claimed he was considering entering the transaction verification business — but he never did. When he refused an offer by Vericheck, a provider of electronic transaction processing services, to buy one of his domain names, they filed a complaint. The subsequent ruling outlined the legal standard for distinctiveness and made an important ruling regarding the registration of “highly similar marks” by third parties. A sidebar to this article discusses the finding that the defendant had acted with “a bad faith intent to profit” from the use of the Vericheck mark.