An Internet domain name that incorporates a trademark as an identifier does not necessarily dilute the mark, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Monday.
In Avery Dennison Corp. v. Sumpton, 98-55810, the court found that Sumpton’s registration of “avery.net” and “dennison.net” as domain names does not dilute office supply company Avery Dennison’s trademarks “Avery” and “Dennison.” Sumpton’s company, Freeview Listings Ltd., offers “vanity” e-mail addresses to users and has registered thousands of domain name combinations, including common surnames.
