A satirical magazine has lost a domain name dispute it brought against a publishing company it claimed had piggybacked on its brand.
The Harvard Lampoon, which says takes its inspiration from the defunct British publication Punch, was denied the rights to lampoon.com, reports the Harvard Crimson. It suggested that the domain name’s owner, Florida-based Reflex Publishing, had no legitimate interest in the name.
But the complaint was denied last month, after the magazine failed to prove that the publishing firm’s use of the name was malicious.
“After carefully considering the totality of the circumstances in the record, the Panel does not find any evidence demonstrating that Respondent registered the domain name with the aim of profiting from and exploiting Complainant’s rights in the ‘lampoon’ mark,” the arbitration panel was quoted as saying.
The case hinged on the fact that there isn’t anything special about the word lampoon. “[T]he lampoon mark nonetheless comprises the common dictionary word ‘lampoon,’ which the record and the panel’s own searching indicates is subject to significant and widespread third-party use in its ordinary or descriptive sense,” the panel was reported as saying.