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Sunday, October 23, 2005
Ind. Law - Evansville cybersquatting case settled
"Realtors settle dispute" is the headline to a story today by Maureen Hayden in the Evansville Courier&Press. Some quotes:
An Evansville Realtor has agreed to pay $60,000 to settle a "cyber-squatting" lawsuit accusing her of pirating Internet domains of her biggest competitor.For background, see this ILB entry from 8/25/04.Janice Miller, owner of ERA First Advantage Realty, agreed to pay the money to F.C. Tucker Emge in a settlement reached Friday. As part of the settlement agreement, neither side admits liability to the claims and counterclaims brought during what has been an acrimonious dispute between the owners of the city's largest real estate companies.
The agreement was reached on the day when attorneys for both parties were scheduled to meet with U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young, in whose court the lawsuit had been filed.
The matter appeared headed for trial after a dispute arose over who violated the terms of an earlier and confidential settlement agreement, in which Miller had agreed to pay $35,000 to get the owners of F.C. Tucker Emge to drop cyber-squatting claims against her and her company. * * *
Briscoe and Eastridge filed the lawsuit against Miller last year, accusing her of violating the Anti-cyberpiracy Consumer Protection Act of 1999, designed to protect trademarks from Internet interlopers. They alleged Miller bought and registered 19 Internet domain names that closely resembled their company's name and Web site address. The result, they said, was that when potential F.C. Tucker Emge customers would go to one of those 19 Web sites, they would automatically be sent to Miller's homepage instead. Miller filed a counterclaim against Briscoe and Eastridge, accusing them of attempting to put her out of business.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 23, 2005 07:24 AM
Posted to Indiana Law