When a small Indian company recently tried to intimidate the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences into paying $25 million for a web address, the hosts of the Oscars decided their cash would be better spent hiring lawyers instead.
Last week the Academy filed a cybersquatting suit at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the latest of a series of trademark actions that have shown its determination to shield the Oscar brand.
In March, representatives Goa, India-based 007 Productions, e-mailed the Academy, explaining that they had registered the domain name www.Oscars100.com and were auctioning it off to the highest bidder. The buy-it-now price: $25 million.
The idea, of course, was that the Academy Awards would like to have the domain name on hand for their 100th anniversary. Last year the Oscars turned 81.
“We must remind you that we cannot be responsible for the alternative uses that it may be acquired for, Gambling, ADULT INDUSTRY, or otherwise,” a company representative wrote. “It is our belief that if this Site comes into the hands of unscrupulous users, it may ‘tarnish’ the image of the Oscars if it is abused.”
The Academy tends to be aggressive about protecting the name and image of its famous gold statuette. In 2007, it sued the owner of www.Oscarwatch.com for trademark infringement, forcing him to change the site’s name to www.Awardsdaily.com. More recently, it went after a party planner in Georgia who used 10-foot tall replicas of the Oscar at a gala featured on the “Real Housewives of Atlanta.”
Predictably, the Academy’s lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges sent 007 Productions a cease and desist letter. In response, the Indian Company turned a bit, well, snarky. It accused the firm of defaming it and noted that the academy had only registered the name “Oscar.”
“Interestingly, you don’t have to be smarter than a fifth grader to see that Oscar is in the singular and Oscars100 is in the plural and numerical,” its representative wrote.
It will be up to Judge James Cacheris to decide if that’s a meaningful difference.
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