The Violation of the Intellectual Property Right Report (Assessment)

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

Intellectual property is a term that covers all kinds of brainwork products, whether they belong to artistic, scientific, literary, business or any other sphere of human activity. Intellectual property rights of the owner of a trademark or any kind of copyrighted production are protected by law as any other rights, as they presuppose certain benefits from the authorship. Unless inventors are guaranteed that products of their mental activity are legally protected by the patent system, they lose motivation to work further and produce results in the chosen direction (Whitman & Mattord, 2011).

The World Intellectual Property Organization ensures that the intellectual property right holders can at their sole discretion allow or prohibit reproduction of their works in all possible forms, including performances in front of the audience, translation into foreign languages, screen or literary adaptations, and others. Nowadays, it is universally recognized that intellectual property is highly valuable and must be safeguarded. This attitude causes an enormous increase in litigation in this field (Easttom & Taylor, 2011).

However, the violation of the intellectual property right is not always a clear-cut issue: in particular cases, it is rather questionable which party’s actions are legitimate. The case of Guru Denim Inc. vs. Abu-Harb presents one of the most demonstrative examples. In July 2013, the plaintiff, Guru Denim Inc. (a company headquartered in Vernon, California, filed a complaint against Ibrahim Ali Ibrahim Abu Harb, a promoter of the Islamic religion, accusing him of using the domain name identical to the corporation’s registered mark in bad faith (Hosp, 2013).

The respondent, who asserted to be a devoted Muslim, launched his site www.truereligion.com in 1998 as a religious blog. Several years later, in 2002, Guru Denim Inc. registered True Religion as a trademark for its jeans, which quickly rose to popularity. Abu-Harb, who immediately saw an opportunity to derive profit from this, placed several links to True Religion Jeans on his website in order to confuse potential customers and to divert them from the competitor, concurrently attracting additional traffic to his own site. Later, he decided to put up www.truereligion.com for sale charging an exorbitant price for it (Cyberlaw, 2013).

Abu-Harb claimed that he had used the domain name for several years before True Religion Jeans trademark was registered. He also assured that the company changed the name of the brand just a couple of days after filing the complaint. Moreover, the respondent submitted that he had legitimate interests under the given circumstances and had never tried to confuse users that his site had any relation to Guru Denim Inc. (Donahey, 2013).

The Court decided for the defendant as it was clear that he had the right to use the domain name in order to pursue his financial goals. Since it was impossible to prove that the name was registered in bad faith, the complaint of Guru Denim Inc. was dismissed. Consequently, Abu-Harb could persist in his intention to sell the domain for any price he considered reasonable. True Religion sued him once more in Boston with an aim to prevent the creation of similar domain names. However, it failed to prove the violation of the American anti-cybersquatting law. The case was ruled in Abu-Harb’s favor (Levine, 2015).

This dispute had far-reaching effects for other business organizations as it solved the issue of internet domains ownership. If Guru Denim Inc. had won the case, it would mean that other companies could easily force individuals to give up domain names that were identical to their brands, no matter if they had been registered earlier.

The outcome of the whole story leads to the conclusion that having a trademark does not imply monopolization of all the domain names that coincide with it.

References

Cyberlaw. Trademark law. WIPO arbitrators uphold conjunctive view of bad faith under the uniform domain name dispute resolution policy. Guru Denim Inc. v. Abu-Harb, case no. D2013-1324, Administrative Panel decision (WIPO arbitration & mediation ctr. 2013). (2013). Web.

Donahey, M. S. (2013). . Case No. D2013-1324. Web.

Easttom, C., & Taylor, J. (2011). Computer crime, investigation, and the law. Boston, MA: Course Technology.

Hosp, D. R. (2013). . Web.

Levine, M. G. (2015). Trademarks, domain names, and cybersquatting.

Whitman, M. & Mattord, H. (2011). Readings and cases in information security. Boston, MA: Course Technology, Cengage Learning.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2020, August 9). The Violation of the Intellectual Property Right. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-violation-of-the-intellectual-property-right/

Work Cited

"The Violation of the Intellectual Property Right." IvyPanda, 9 Aug. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/the-violation-of-the-intellectual-property-right/.

References

IvyPanda. (2020) 'The Violation of the Intellectual Property Right'. 9 August.

References

IvyPanda. 2020. "The Violation of the Intellectual Property Right." August 9, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-violation-of-the-intellectual-property-right/.

1. IvyPanda. "The Violation of the Intellectual Property Right." August 9, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-violation-of-the-intellectual-property-right/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "The Violation of the Intellectual Property Right." August 9, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-violation-of-the-intellectual-property-right/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
Privacy Settings

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Required Cookies & Technologies
Always active

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Site Customization

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy.

Personalized Advertising

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

1 / 1