Lockheed Martin Corp. v. Network Solutions
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
194 F.3d 980 (1999)
- Written by Jenny Perry, JD
Facts
Lockheed Martin Corporation (Lockheed) (plaintiff) owned and operated an aircraft design and construction laboratory called The Skunk Works. The Skunk Works had developed prototypes of various jet fighters and spy planes and, at the time of the events giving rise to the litigation, was involved in designing a possible replacement for the space shuttle. Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) (defendant) was a contractor performing Internet domain-name registrations. This work involved translating domain-name combinations that registrants entered on a template to the registrants’ Internet-protocol addresses and then routing the information or commands to host computers. On behalf of third parties not involved in the litigation, NSI registered domain-name combinations that were variations on the phrase skunk works, such as skunkworks.com. Lockheed sued NSI, alleging that certain of the registrations infringed and diluted its Skunk Works service mark, which constituted contributory infringement of Lockheed’s mark. The district court entered summary judgment in favor of NSI, and Lockheed appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Trott, J.)
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