NEW YORK, March 6, 2002 – The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued an opinion in favor of the firm's client Cosmos European Travels AG. The court dismissed plaintiff Eurotech Inc.'s claims of tortious interference with prospective economic advantage and abuse of process -- claims based on Cosmos' successful Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) arbitration.
In a case of first impression, the court held that such claims were barred by the "Noerr-Pennington doctrine." Noerr-Pennington, which arose in the antitrust area, had previously been extended to protect trademark owners who filed infringement actions in court. However, no court had decided whether the doctrine covers a domain name arbitration.
The parties' respective domain name and trademark claims remain in contention.
Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP (www.clm.com), established in 1854, has approximately 97 attorneys and has been headquartered on Wall Street since its founding and has additional offices in midtown Manhattan and Washington, DC. Carter Ledyard’s general practice includes corporate, securities, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, litigation, intellectual property, environmental, employment, media and technology, immigration, investment regulation, antitrust, trusts and estates, maritime, ERISA, exempt organizations, real estate, tax and bankruptcy. A significant part of the firm’s practice involves representing overseas-based clients and their U.S. affiliates, financial institutions and other financial services providers, governmental entities and media and technology clients.