GlobalSantaFe v. globalsantafe.com

Citation: Globalsantafe Corp. v. Globalsantafe.com, 250 F.Supp.2d 610(E.D. Va. 2003).

Plaintiff brought an in rem suit under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act ("ACPA"). The trademark owner claimed that the domain name  infringed its trademark for GlobalSantaFe. The district court agreed and found: (a) that the ACPA included authorization to order the “.com” registry to cancel a domain name, (b) that an in rem action under the ACPA was appropriate; and (c) that registration of  did in fact violate the trademark rights of GlobalSanteFe Corporation. The district court issued the order.

Discussion
The case was interesting because it essentially pitted a United States court default ruling against a Korean court ruling. After a default ruling in favor of plaintiff, a Korean court enjoined the registrar from transferring the domain name. In this action, the plaintiff sought the district court’s amendment of its judgment to compel the “.com” registry to cancel the  domain name registration.