9th Cir.: Anti-cybersquatting law not cover "re-registration" (i.e., renewal) of domain name . . .

. . . as long as the initial registration was lawful. The case is GoPets Ltd. v. Hise, No. 08-56110 (9th Cir. Sept. 22, 2011).

Here’s the timeline. In 1999, defendant Hise registered the domain name gopets.com. Gopets.com is among over 1300 domain names that Hise registered in the last decade. In other words, he’s a “domain name ‘entrepreneur.’” In 2004, plaintiff GoPets started a PC game under the name GoPets, featuring virtual pets that move between the computers of registered users. Later, plaintiff began a series of unsuccessful negotiations with Hise to buy the domain name.

During the negotiations, lots transpired. Hise transferred the domain name to his company. Plaintiff registered its GoPets mark. A month later, Hise’s company “re-registered”—I am not sure why the court refused to use the word “renewed”—the domain name registration. Plaintiff filed and lost a UDRP arbitration because Hise registered before plaintiff began using GoPets. Hise then registered 17 different domain names incorporating “gopets.” Hise’s last demand to plaintiff was $5 million. Finally, plaintiff sued in court.

The 9th Circuit held that Hise’s original registration of gopets.com was lawful, because the ACPA (15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)) requires that a claimant own a “mark that is distinctive at the time of registration”—and plaintiff didn’t begin using its mark until years later. The court further held that “re-registration” (renewal) is not subject to the ACPA if the initial registration was lawful. But the court held that Hise’s subsequent registrations of the 17 “gopets” variant domain names after Hise began negotiations with plaintiff violated the ACPA.