Ill. Chevy Dealer Cybersquatting Dispute Involves Pornhub Redirect

CHICAGO – In a case with echoes of cybersquatting tales from the earliest days of the commercial internet, Chicago area Chevrolet dealership Currie Motors Chevrolet has accused a rival dealership of registering a domain name which includes the Currie brand name – and redirecting traffic to that domain to Pornhub.

While you don’t hear as many examples of this sort of thing happening these days, cybersquatting involving porn redirects were relatively commonplace back in the day — and likely had a lot to do with the call to enact cybersquatting legislation, dating back to the late 90’s.

The named defendants in the lawsuit include Castle Chevrolet Inc., Castle Chevrolet North LLC and Agustin Medina, who is identified as “an agent and employee of the Castle Defendants, acting within the scope of his employment with the knowledge and approval of the Castle Defendants and/or for the benefit of the Castle Defendants.”

According to the complaint, “Medina purchased the domain name curriechevrolet.com… without the knowledge or consent of Plaintiffs,” then “set up the Domain so that any users who attempted to access the Currie Motors website would be re-directed to a website featuring pornography, namely Pornhub.com.”

“In doing so, Defendants appropriated the name and goodwill of Currie Motors under which Plaintiffs were doing business,” Currie asserts in its complaint. “Upon learning of the acts of Defendants, Plaintiffs then attempted to obtain the Domain, but Medina and the Castle Defendants refused to release the Domain to Plaintiffs.”

While Castle allegedly has refused to release the domain name to Currie, the rival dealership did stop redirecting traffic to Pornhub at some point prior to the lawsuit being filed this week – but, unsurprisingly, that alone wasn’t enough to avoid litigation.

“While Defendants did cease the redirection of the Domain to the pornography site, the refusal of Defendants to release the Domain name to Plaintiffs, who have a right to said Domain name, has irreparably harmed Plaintiffs and the Currie Motors name under which they are doing business, and created a situation whereby Defendants can, at any time, reactivate the redirection of the Domain to a website that will further tarnish Plaintiffs’ reputation and destroy their goodwill,” Currie asserts in its complaint.

Currie’s complaint alleges its rivals have violated the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (“ACPA”), the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act and engaged in the tort of conversion.

In addition to seeking damages of $100,000 (the maximum statutory damages available under the ACPA), Currie’s complaint asks the court to enter an order “permanently enjoining Defendants and their officers, agents, employees and representatives from using the Domain in any way,” enter another order “compelling Defendants to transfer the Domain to Plaintiffs or their designee” and award Currie “reasonable costs and attorneys’ fees.”

While this cybersquatting lawsuit’s direct relevance to the adult industry is slim, it does serve as a useful reminder that if you’re ever tempted to register a domain name that contains marks or names clearly associated with another business (and a rival business, in particular), giving in to that temptation is likely to land you in court – whether or not you take the additional step of pointing that domain at Pornhub.

Automobiles photo by Torsten Dettlaff from Pexels