Back in June, Victory Tradeshow Management Group, the parent company of the Exxxotica adult trade show, filed suit at U.S. District in Los Angeles against competing adult-consumer show operator Adultcon, claiming that its owner is squatting on 19 domain names.
In the complaint, Exxxotica said that it registered its name with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2008 and that Adultcon operators “intended to divert customers … for commercial gain and with the intent to tarnish or disparage the mark by creating a likelihood of confusion as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation and endorsement of the infringing sites.”
Exxxotica counsel claimed Adultcon’s operator registered similar-sounding website names on Jan. 15, just months before Exxxotica announced it would be rolling out a show in Los Angeles.
The domain names at issues in the are:
Exxxotica-lv.com, ExxxoticaExpo-LA.com, ExxxoticaExpo-LV.com, ExxxoticaExpoLA.com, ExxxoticaExpoLV.com, ExxxoticaLA.com, ExxxoticaLasVegas.com, ExxxoticaLosAngeles.com, Exxxoticalv.com; ExxxoticaVegas.com; ExoticaExpo-LA.com, ExoticaExpo-LV.com, ExoticaExpoLA.com, ExoticaExpoLV.com, ExoticaLA.com, ExoticaLosAngeles.com, ExoticaLV.com, ExoticavaLasVegas.com and ExoticaVegas.com.
Each of the 19 domain names currently redirect to Adultcon.com
The suit seeks not more than damages $100,000 for each alleged cybersquatted domain name.
According to a story reported this week on www.xbiz.com Adultcon has furnished a reply against Exxxotica’s cybersquatting claiming that it has a right to competition on a level playing field.
Adultcon attorney Sepher Daghighian also told the court that Exxxotica’s trademark is generic and not distinctive, and thus invalid and unenforceable.
Adultcon also argues that Exxxotica is picking on them because there are so many other infringers in the online and offline marketplace and that Exxxotica has failed to actively pursue other alleged third-party infringers.
An Adultcon spokesman told XBIZ that the company “looks forward to litigating this in court.”
Attorney Michael Fattorosi represents Victory Tradeshow Management Group.