Wednesday, August 9, 2000

Robert Ruth
Dispatch Staff Reporter

A Florida man is guilty of cyberpiracy for illegally acquiring Dublin- based Stanley Steemer International's name for use on the Internet, a judge has ruled.

Joseph R. Dreitler, an attorney for the carpet- and upholstery- cleaning company, said yesterday that the ruling by U.S. District Judge James L. Graham marks the first time a judge in Columbus has found that someone violated a recently enacted federal cyberpiracy law.

The law makes it easier for companies to obtain relatively quick judgments against individuals who use their corporate name and other trademarks for Web site and e-mail addresses without permission, he said.

Stanley Steemer in April sued George Donaldson of Tallahassee, Fla., accusing him of cyberpiracy, trademark infringement and unfair competition.

The company alleged that Donaldson illegally registered the domain name stanleysteemer.cc on the Internet. He registered the name with Internet Service Corp. at the Web site SamsDirect, whose address is www.spot.cc. SamsDirect is a relatively new domain-name registration service based in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Donaldson on Feb. 10 contacted Stanley Steemer by e-mail and offered to sell the name to the company, the suit alleged. Domain names are used by potential customers to reach companies' Internet sites. Many businesses consider domain names tantamount to trademarks.

Donaldson refused to withdraw stanleysteemer.cc as a domain name, even after company officials warned him that his actions probably violated federal trademark and cyberpiracy laws, the suit said.

"I'll give the name back to the company when I feel like it. You might as well pound sand,'' Donaldson replied in an e-mail, according to the lawsuit.

In a four-page ruling last week, Graham found that Donaldson violated the federal cyberpiracy law, which took effect Nov. 29.

Dreitler said he will consult Stanley Steemer about the possibility of seeking damages and legal expenses from Donaldson. The law allows a plaintiff to seek legal expenses and up to $100,000 in damages.

Before the November law was enacted, companies had to sue alleged cyberpirates under existing trademark statutes, an often lengthy and expensive process, Dreitler said.

Under the trademark-violation law, Wendy's International last year won a case against a cyberpirate who tried to use the company's trademark names on Web sites. Ricart Automotive Group of central Ohio has sued an Ohio State University graduate student who has used the Ricart name for a Web site complaining about the company.

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