Rearden LLC v. Rearden Commerce, Inc.

Rearden LLC, Rearden Studios LLC, Rearden Inc., and other related entities starting with the name Rearden (collectively, the Rearden companies) (plaintiffs) had used Rearden in their names since 1999. The Rearden companies operated websites bearing similar Rearden names and were in the business of supporting start-up technology companies with various services, from personnel to marketing. Between 2002 and 2007, the Rearden companies obtained the trademarks Rearden Studios and Rearden LLC and filed applications for other Rearden-related marks. The Rearden companies were unrelated to Rearden Commerce, Inc. (Commerce) (defendant), which offered a web-based platform that served as a “personal assistant” for businesses and professionals, connecting them to travel-related vendors and services. In 2005, Commerce began to acquire internet domain-name families, e.g., .com or .org, that incorporated the word “Rearden,” including ReardenInc, ReardenCo, and ReardenC. The Rearden companies sought to oppose certain of Commerce’s trademark applications, and one of the Rearden companies adopted “Rearden LLC” as its legal name. Shortly thereafter, Commerce registered the domain names ReardenLLC.com and ReardenLLC.net (the ReardenLLC domain names) and began directing individuals accessing the ReardenLLC sites to Commerce’s main website. According to Commerce, it had a longstanding but unspoken branding program to acquire Rearden-related domain names, though it had never gone by the name Rearden LLC. The Rearden companies sued Commerce and alleged that the purchases of the ReardenLLC domain names violated the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). During settlement decisions, Commerce offered to transfer the Rearden LLC domain names to the Rearden companies. The district court granted summary judgment to Commerce on the ACPA claim, finding that the company had not acted in bad faith in registering the ReardenLLC domain names. The Rearden companies appealed.