Virtual Works, Inv. v. Volkswager of America, Inc.

Volkswagen challenges Virtual Works, Inc.'s use of the domain
name vw.net under the 1999 Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection
Act (ACPA). Volkswagen claims that Virtual Works registered vw.net
with the purpose of one day selling it to Volkswagen. The district
court agreed, holding that Virtual Works had a bad faith intent to
profit from the vw.net domain name and that its use of vw.net diluted
and infringed upon the VW mark. Virtual Works, Inc. v. Network
Solutions, Inc., 106 F. Supp.2d 845 (E.D. Va. 2000). The district court
therefore ordered Virtual Works to relinquish to Volkswagen the
rights to vw.net.

On October 23, 1996, Virtual Works registered the domain name
vw.net with Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI). At that time, NSI was the
only company authorized by the government to serve as a registrar for
Internet domain names. A domain name tells users where they can
find a particular web page, much like a street address tells people
where they can find a particular home or business. Domain names
consist of two parts: the top level domain name (TLD) and secondary
level domain name (SLD). The TLD is the suffix, identifying the
nature of the site. The SLD is the prefix, identifying the site's owner.
Thus in the domain name Duke.edu, ".edu" is the TLD, identifying
the site as affiliated with an educational institution. "Duke" is the
SLD, identifying the owner as Duke University. There are various
other TLDs. The most common are .com, .net, and .org for commer-
cial users and .gov for governmental entities. At one point there was
a distinction between the .com, .org, and .net TLDs. The .net TLD
was reserved for Internet service providers (ISPs). The .org TLD was
reserved for non-commercial or non-profit users. In September 1995,
however, NSI stopped enforcing these distinctions. Thus, after 1995,
commercial businesses could register domain names with the .net,
.org, or .com TLD.
Click here for the full text of the court's opinion.