CHAPTER 6 - TRADEMARK & DOMAIN NAMES QUIZ

Barney Rubble registers his domain name, Barney.com. Barney plans to post photographs of his little boy Bamm-Bamm lifting the family car and playing with his friend Pebbles. However, the creators of the children’s icon “Barney the Brontosaurus,” an anthropomorphic orange brontosaurus, have filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Barney Rubble claiming that his Barney.com Web site is infringing on their registered “Barney” trademark. They point to the fact that Barney has placed the phrases “Barney” and “orange brontosaurus” in his Web site meta tags. The creators of Barney the Brontosaurus have also filed suit against Sy B. Squatter, who has registered the domain names Barnie.com and BarnieTheBrontosaurus.com. When children mistakenly type in the misspelling of Barney’s name at those Web sites they are taken to a pornographic Web site, MutantTeenageLesbianTurtles.com and every attempt to exit the Web site results in the appearance of a succession of pop-up ads for more sex Web sites. Are either of the Barney creators’ lawsuits likely to succeed? Why or why not?

List the issues involved and probable outcomes.

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