Judge Paul Engelmayer
Timepiece expert Patrizzi, a resident of Monaco, founded an auction house called Antiquorom. In 2008 he founded Patrizzi & Co. Auctioneers, and registered domain name “patrizziauction.com.” He claims common law trademark ownership in “Osvaldo Patrizzi,” “Patrizzi & Co. Auctioneers,” and “patrizziauction.com.” New York’s Bourne in Time Inc.and Swiss and U.S. parents Antiquorom S.A. and Antiquorum USAallegedly infringed Patrizzi’s marks by redirecting online searches for slightly misspelled versions of his marks and domain names to Bourne’s “timezone.com” website and linking users to the Antiquorum defendants’ “antiquorum.com” site. The court dismissed Patrizzi’s RICO and RICO conspiracy claims for failure to satisfy the continuity requirement for a RICO claim, and because his allegations of wire fraud were “garden variety trademark infringement claims.” However, the court denied defendants judgment on the pleadings as to Patrizzi’s claims of false designation of origin, trademark dilution, and cyberpiracy violating the Lanham Act. Despite ample evidence apparently undermining his claims, Patrizzi sufficiently alleged that his ownership of the subject trademarks and defendants’ infringement thereof.