Coca-Cola Co. v. Purdy

382 F.3d 774 (2004)

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Coca-Cola Co. v. Purdy

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
382 F.3d 774 (2004)

Facts

William Purdy (defendant) registered numerous Internet domain names that incorporated distinctive, famous, and protected marks owned by the Coca-Cola Company and others (collectively, trademark owners) (plaintiffs), including drinkcoke.org, mymcdonalds.com, and my-washingtonpost.com. Purdy linked the domain names to the website abortionismurder.com, which contained anti-abortion messaging and graphic images of aborted fetuses. Purdy’s website also contained links to another site that solicited donations and sold merchandise bearing anti-abortion messages. Purdy did not appear to have targeted the companies he did because of any position they had taken on abortion but rather for the purpose of engendering confusion and diverting the companies’ users to his websites in order to tarnish the owners’ marks. Purdy also offered to stop using the Washington Post Company domain name in exchange for space on the newspaper’s editorial page. The trademark owners filed suit under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. The district court entered a preliminary injunction in favor of the trademark owners, and Purdy appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Murphy, J.)

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