The National Arbitration Panel has awarded ownership of four domain name registrations to AMVETS after the non-profit organization filed two separate complaints involving cybersquatting on the AMVETS mark.

AMVETS filed one complaint against American Veterans Alliance, which has offices in Washington D.C., Gulfport, MS and Louisville, KY, and the other against John Rathman of Las Vegas, NV. Both cases involved the bad faith registration and use of domain names that include the term AMVETS. The AMVETS name and mark is protected by a special federal statute, and AMVETS owns federal trademark registrations for the AMVETS mark.

In the first case, the panel concluded that amvetsalliance.org, amvetsalliance.com and amvetsalliance.net were "confusingly similar" to the AMVETS mark and, the addition of the generic term "alliance" did not distinguish these domain names from the AMVETS mark. The decision noted that American Veterans Alliance registered all three domain names in bad faith and for commercial gain by soliciting donations from Internet users who might believe American Veterans Alliance is affiliated with AMVETS. More specifically, a link to "Donations" at American Veterans Alliance's web site resolved to a web page that displayed the AMVETS mark. Such actions by American Veterans Alliance were held to constitute bad faith use and registration of the domain names, and wrongful profiting from the goodwill associated with the AMVETS mark.

In the Rathman case, John Rathman was using the domain name amvetsweb.com to redirect users to a commercial site that presumably generated click-through fees in the form of commissions. The arbitration panel concluded that the use of the AMVETS mark in the amvetsweb.com domain name was done in violation of AMVETS's legal rights and for the Mr. Rathman's commercial gain. Furthermore, because a federal statute governs AMVETS's rights in the mark, Mr. Rathman's registration of the amvetsweb.com domain name alone was held to be evidence of bad faith registration and use of the domain name.

In both cases the arbitrator granted full relief to AMVETS, ordering that all of the domain names be transferred to AMVETS.

"These are decisive victories for AMVETS and its members," stated Velma Hart, National Finance Director and Chief Financial Officer of AMVETS. "These rulings send a zero-tolerance message to those attempting to exploit the activities of legitimate businesses and organizations. We will continue to pursue aggressively any others who attempt to infringe on our AMVETS mark."

AMVETS was represented in both matters by Diane Duhaime and Jonathan Sterling, lawyers with the law firm of Jorden Burt LLP. "We are very pleased with these two wins, as well as the details of each decision," said Duhaime, chair of the firm's Intellectual Property and Technology practice team. "We believe these decisions will serve as excellent deterrents against future abuses of the AMVETS mark."

A leader since 1944 in preserving the freedoms secured by America's Armed Forces, Maryland-based AMVETS provides support for veterans and the active military in procuring their earned entitlements, and community services that enhance the quality of life for this nation's citizens. More information on AMVETS can be found at www.amvets.org .