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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTEASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGANSOUTHERN DIVISION
WEATHER UNDERGROUND, INC., a Michigancorporation,Plaintiff,v.NAVIGATION CATAYLST SYSTEMS, INC., aDelaware corporation; BASIC FUSION, INC., aDelaware corporation; CONNEXUS CORP., aDelaware corporation; and FIRSTLOOK, INC., aDelaware corporation,Defendants./ CASE NO. 09-10756HON. MARIANNE O. BATTANI
OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING INPART DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS PURSUANT TOFED. R. CIV. P. 12(b)(6) OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, TRANSFER
Before the Court is Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P.12(b)(2) or in the Alternative, Transfer (Doc. #15). The Court heard oral argument, and atthe conclusion of the hearing took this matter under advisement. For the reasons thatfollow, the motion is
GRANTED in part and DENIED in part
.
I.STATEMENT OF FACTS
Plaintiff, Weather Underground, Inc. (“Weather Underground”), is incorporated andmaintains its principal place of business in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Compl. ¶ 1.) WeatherUnderground is a commercial weather service, acting as an index for the informationprovided to it by multiple weather stations. (Id. ¶¶11-13.) Its primary sources of revenueare subscriptions (id. ¶ 14) and the sale of advertisements on its Web site,
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All domain names must be registered by a registrar accredited by the InternetCorporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Basic Fusion is an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar. (Def.’s Br. 4.)
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<www.wunderground.com> (id. ¶ 22). Plaintiff’s trademarks include, but are not limited to,“Weather Underground,” “Wund,” “Wunderground,” “Weather Sticker,” “Wundersearch,”“Wundermarp,” and “Wunderradio.” (Id. ¶¶ 26-35.) Plaintiff owns approximately 125 Webaddresses, or domain names, the majority of which integrate its trademarks and servicemarks. (Id. ¶ 24.)Defendants in this case, Navigation Catalyst Systems, Inc. (“NCS”), Basic Fusion,Inc. (“Basic Fusion”), Connexus Corp. (“Connexus”), and Firstlook, Inc. (“Firstlook”), areincorporated in Delaware. (Def.’s Br. 4.) Connexus is the parent company of Firstlook,which, in turn, is the parent company of both NCS and Basic Fusion. (Id.) NCS is a“domain name holding company which acquires generic and descriptive domain names inbulk.” (Id.) Basic Fusion is a domain name registrar.
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(Id.) After NCS registers domainnames through Basic Fusion, the names are submitted to First Look, and First Lookcreates automatically generated Web pages based on the text of the domain name. (Id. at5.) The Web pages contain hyperlinks to third party advertisers, who pay on a pay-per-click basis. According to the Complaint, the links redirect users to Plaintiff’s competitors,such as WeatherBug, Top-Weather.net, A LOT Weather, and DTN Meteorlogix. (Compl.¶ 66.)NCS profits from “direct navigation.” (Id. at 42.) When an Internet user enters aword or phrase in a Web browser’s address bar, instead of the search field of a searchengine, the user would be taken to a Web site with information relevant to the search.
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(Decl. of Seth Jacoby, at ¶ 4.) For example, if a user looking for parties supplies typeswww.partysupplies.orgin the address bar, he would reach NCS’s Web page, whichcontains “hyperlinks to products and services that a visitor might be interested in based onthe domain name itself.” (Id. at ¶ 7.) Each Web page also contains a search box thatallows the visitor to input a search. (Id. at ¶ 9.)Plaintiff alleges that Defendants’ business model capitalizes on Internet users’ errorsin typing the Web addresses to businesses whose Web sites they intend to visit. Plaintiffcharacterizes Defendants’ business as “typosquatting.” (Compl. ¶¶ 44, 45.) WeatherUnderground alleges that Defendants infringed its trademarks by registering domain nameswith various misspellings of Plaintiff’s Web properties, <weatherunderground.com>, and<wund.com> (Pl.’s Br. 3.) in order to redirect Plaintiff’s customers to competitors and third-party advertisers (id. at 2). A few of the identified 41 domains alleged to infringe includethe following: Qwundergoound.com, Swunderground.com, Udergroundweather.com,Undegroundweather.com, Undergroudweather.com, Undergroundwaether.com,Undergroundwweather.com. (Comp. 77.)Plaintiff filed suit against Defendants, alleging cybersquatting under the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d), trademark infringement underthe Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1114(1), false designation of origin under the Lanham Act,15 U.S.C. § 1125(a), and dilution by blurring and tarnishment under the Lanham Act, 15U.S.C. §1125(c). Under Michigan common law, Plaintiff advances claims of unfaircompetition and trademark infringement, civil conspiracy, contributory trademarkinfringement, and vicarious trademark infringement. Plaintiff seeks a declaratory judgment, injunctive relief, damages, and attorneys’ fees.
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