Nobody seems to be missing that point from what I'm reading. We're just saying that the website appears to be a pretty standard parked domain setup not some elaborate website. Boyd said he had registered 500 poker related domains that day. If we could see those other sites on the wayback machine I'm guessing they're going to look identical except for differences in the names of the site. Probably true for all poker related domains parked with Fabulous at that time.

In the judge's decision there was no ruling regarding how sophisticated the site was. The judge did say something along the lines that the evidence is scant that Boyd profited from the domain. Based on my experience I have no problem believe he only made around $100 in revenue and no other evidence has been presented to show otherwise. Those points don't matter as to whether Boyd tried to profit from infringing on 2p2's trademark. Just because Boyd was infringed 2p2's trademark with this domain doesn't make him wrong on everything else he's saying. I think it's causing them to lose credibility. I'm more inclined now to believe most of what Boyd is saying than I was at the beginning as a result. Even if everything Boyd said is 100% true he still didn't have much of a chance winning the lawsuit.

Not sure why Malmuth would bring these points up and why ProfessionalPoker keeps trying to show that the site was anything more than a fairly standard parked domain setup. Those points don't matter in terms of the merits of the case which was why GT was filing so many of these types of cases at the time.

Plus sign is not a valid character in domain names but he would still lose just like you can't open a hamburger chain called MacDonalds and not be sued and lose.

There was a famous case where some 12th grade student had a website for his part time web design business. His name was Mike Rowe and got sued by Microsoft over his domain MikeRoweSoft. It never went to trial because Microsoft got a lot of flack over it. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_vs._MikeRoweSoft

Didn't know that about the + sign.

So basically the trademark is for "twoplustwo" when it deals with poker, gambling or books? Someone could open twoplustwo coffee shop with no problem? Do these trade mark laws exist outside of the US or are they only enforceable in the US? (don't worry I'm not trying to figure out a way to make money off twoplustwo)

OK I change my stance now that Dutch has spoken.

Step 1) Use a Domain Keyword Program for the term [poker]
Step 2) Find hundreds of [keyword]poker.com and poker[keyword].com domains available.
Step 3) Look through half the list and think OK at $10 a name there's a chance I can make money if a few of them get traffic.
Step 4) Buy all domains
Step 5) CUSTOMIZE THE PARKED PAGE TEMPLATE TO INCLUDE MY OWN AFFILIATE CODES
Step 6) Hope to make back registration fees
Step 7) Probably not, it's a hard game

Correct
http://2plus2bookkeeping.com/

Gotcha

Thanks Mike

Is there ever a time when the brand is so big that the name it self is protected no matter what market you use it in? For instance could I start Pepsi cleaning supplies?

Listen up. The registration was an attempt to capitalize on someone else's trademark. When people see TwoPlusTwoPoker.com there is only one thing they are thinking of. Dutch Boyd knew this. This is not an ambiguous case. When he registered the name, he was hoping it would get a ton of traffic. The fact that it did not, is not relevant. Also, the fact that the site was just a parked page is not relevant.

Now, if you had a name like PokerStarsForever.com, you can start thinking about making a good faith registration defense, even if you registered it hoping to capitalize on Poker Stars' business (you would probably lose there, but you would stand a chance, if you wanted to lie about why you registered it). A poker star is a term that is generic, and reasonable people could disagree as to whether PokerStarsForever.com infringes. Compare that with a poker name that would include Full Tilt, and you will see that most everyone would agree that the Full Tilt name would be an infringement almost all of the time, even if you tried to argue that poker players go on tilt...blah blah blah. There are lots of gray areas, but the name TwoPlusTwoPoker.com is a clear cut infringement, because without the site and business that is Two Plus Two, you really wouldn't ever dream up the name TwoPlusTwoPoker.com (don't try to argue that).

There is a guy who owns a computer company, and his last name is Nissan.com. He was sued by Nissan.com and he retained the name. Check out Nissan.com now. If his name was not Nissan, he likely would have lost, even if the site was unrelated to cars. When people think of Nissan, they think of one thing only. Just like Google. There are plenty of interesting cases out there that have been decided, but usually, if you follow common sense, and put yourself into the mind of the person registering the name, you can see what the intent was. Sometimes people can lie and say that the intent was something else, but you cannot do that with a straight face in regards to the name TwoPlusTwoPoker.com, especially coming from a known poker name like Dutch Boyd.

Incorrect, PokerStars has had their affiliates use this format for many years. My aff account goes back to probably 2006 and a domain name of mine is placed the exact same way. Anyone* who clicks on that link will then be tracked to me.

Its even listed on PokerStars' affiliate site:

https://www.pokerstarspartners.com/public/help/faq.html



*obv if they dont have a previous cookie from another link and they download & sign up an account

Possibly. But he would publish a seven-page analysis of why shooting the alien life form was the best available option unless he was certain that he could be the last one to act (with a large stack).

I agree with you that Dutch is clearly in the wrong. There's no argument about that.

The extent of what he did, however, was click a few buttons. Most of what appeared on the site Mason and his lawyers misconstrued as some elaborate production and nefarious intent to sell the domain, when it reality it was just a registrar provided template.

Who knows, it's possible the registrar got a cut as well, that used to happen back in the day.

Over/under on what this debt would sell for in the Marketplace forum?

.07c/$1?

It was a bad faith registration, and the name could very well have made Dutch Boyd a lot of money if it had been a high traffic name. The fact that it ended up not having a lot of traffic, and Dutch didn't use the name as part of a site is immaterial.

If it is just clicking a few buttons, then sending an email threat to the President while drunk is just clicking buttons, too. Or, the next time you are on a plane you might as well joke that you have a bomb. The reality is that even though you may be joking about the bomb, and even though you didn't intend to harm the President, you force other people into expending time, money and effort because of your actions, and every so often the the threat is real, or the person has a bomb, so people have to expend resources figuring these things out, and my guess is that they have other things in life that they would rather be doing.

For all Mason and Two Plus Two knew, Dutch Boyd was about to throw up a for profit site with the name TwoPlusTwoPoker.com. But once they start spending their resources they have to keep going, or else everyone will continue to register similar names for decades. They sent a pretty good message, and Dutch Boyd just was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and messed with the wrong people. I said earlier, that even though his intention was to infringe, he seems like a likeable guy. He had lots of bad luck here, but that is life.

One day you might get it. I am more liberal than conservative, and generally root for the underdog in life, but I can analyze a situation rationally and logically with the best of them. This is a simple case to discuss.

I vote loggy for the best first 6 posts in the history of 2+2... Guy knows his stuff.

Learning a bunch from this thread and some other readings. Like: legally, super-famous brands get extra protection, and any use of them is considered to be dilution or tarnishing. So you can start a Two plus Two diner, but not a Pepsi anything.

http://moz.com/blog/trademark-basics...e-the-consumer

http://www.michiganlawreview.org/art...-needed-change

OTOH, you could look at this whole thing as a big poker game between Mason and Dutch.

Dutch bet out. Mason raised. Dutch three bet and them Mason put him to a decision for all his chips.

Dutch called, even though he was holding seven deuce offsuit. Now he's busto, and like a million losers on a million internet poker sites, he's squealing at the player who bust him..

"You suck at poker!"

Someone needs to photoshop Mason into a new version of Bing Blang Blaow.

Mason just won $50 from Dutch that he could have used to buy some food, but he can't now.

Boyd going into the final day of the $1500 HORSE at the WSOP 7th out of 15.

Does WSOP have to automatically hold any money Dutch earns for Mason or does Mason have to get a court order?

Boyd finished 11th for 11.6k.

I'm sure Boyd is being backed and none of this cash will be "his" money.

The idea expressed in your last paragraph has been discussed earlier in this thread.

I remember some years back hearing FTP had registered a ton of domains including JimmyFrickepoker.com and had them pointing to the main ftp site. Is that ok and if so, how is it different?

That's weird and freakish.

I'm not an attorney but I would consider it about the same.

Jimmy Fricke isn't trademarked.

It may be legal, but I hope you aren't saying it is ethical.