Opinion ID: 783439
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pre-Enactment Registration

Text: 18 Catalanotte first argues that he cannot be required to pay statutory damages for the registration, trafficking in, or use of the domain name FORDWORLD.COM because he registered the domain name before enactment of the ACPA. Ford contends that although Catalanotte is not liable for damages for the registration of the domain name, he can be held accountable in damages for trafficking in the domain name because he offered to sell the domain name on October 27, 2000, after enactment of the ACPA. 19 The ACPA contains the following Effective Date provision: 20 Sections 3002(a), 3003, 3004, 3005, and 3008 of this title shall apply to all domain names registered before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act, except that damages under subsection (a) or (d) of section 35 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1117) [actual and statutory damages], as amended by section 3003 of this title, shall not be available with respect to the registration, trafficking, or use of a domain name that occurs before the date of the enactment of this Act. 21 ACPA § 3010 (codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1117 note). Catalanotte argues that section 3010 precludes statutory damages where registration, trafficking, or use of a domain name has occurred before enactment of the ACPA. Thus, he claims that statutory damages cannot be awarded against him because he registered the domain name FORDWORLD.COM before enactment of the ACPA, even though the district court found that he trafficked in the domain name after enactment of the ACPA. 22 Catalanotte's construction of the Effective Date provision of the ACPA is contrary to the plain language of the provision. In fact, the first portion of the Effective Date provision makes clear that the ACPA shall apply to all domain names registered before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the ACPA. Id. Registration, trafficking, and use of a domain name are separate acts upon which liability may be based. Although damages may not be awarded for pre-enactment registration, trafficking, or use, the fact that a domain name was registered before the Act's passage does not absolve the registrant from liability for post-enactment trafficking or use. In this case, the district court did not award Ford any damages for Catalanotte's registration of the domain name FORDWORLD.COM. Instead, the district court awarded damages only for Catalanotte's trafficking in and use of the domain name after passage of the Act, when Catalanotte offered to sell the domain name to Ford. 23 Catalanotte cites several cases addressing the ACPA, but they fail to support his position that the ACPA precludes liability based on domain names that were registered prior to enactment of the ACPA. In People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals v. Doughney, 263 F.3d 359, 362 (4th Cir.2001), the defendant registered the domain name PETA.ORG in 1995 to host a website for People Eating Tasty Animals, a parody of the plaintiff's organization. The defendant used the domain name for six months in 1995 and 1996 before moving the website to a different domain name. Id. at 363. The plaintiff in Doughney sued seeking only injunctive relief. Id. Therefore, the court did not have an opportunity to consider whether an award of damages was appropriate, although the court found that the ACPA applies retroactively to all domain names registered before enactment of the ACPA. Id. at 368. The court quoted the ACPA's prohibition against damages for conduct before the Act's enactment and noted that damages could not be awarded because the defendant's registration and use of PETA. ORG all occurred before enactment of the ACPA. Id. 24 Catalanotte also relies on Sporty's Farm L.L.C. v. Sportsman's Market, Inc., 202 F.3d 489, 500 (2d Cir.2000), where the court found that damages under the ACPA were unavailable because the domain name at issue was registered and used ... prior to the passage of the new law. What Catalanotte fails to note, however, is that the infringing party in Sporty's did not use the domain name after enactment of the ACPA; therefore, the court had no reason to consider whether the infringer could be liable for damages for conduct after the ACPA's enactment. In Sporty's, a competitor of Sportsman's Market, Inc. registered the domain name SPORTYS.COM in 1995. Id. at 494. In 1996, the competitor sold the domain name to a newly formed subsidiary, Sporty's Farm, which grows and sells Christmas trees. Id. Sporty's Farm soon began using the domain name for a website advertising its Christmas trees. Id. Although the ACPA was not enacted until the Sporty's case was on appeal, the district court had issued an injunction pursuant to the Federal Trademark Dilution Act, prohibiting Sporty's Farm from using the domain name SPORTYS.COM. Id. Thus, Sporty's Farm never used or trafficked in the domain name after enactment of the ACPA. Unlike in Doughney and Sporty's, the district court in this case found that Catalanotte used and trafficked in the domain name FORDWORLD.COM after enactment of the ACPA when he offered to sell the domain name to Ford in October 2000. 25 In several other cases, courts have found that damages are available pursuant to the ACPA for post-enactment use or trafficking, although the domain name at issue was registered before the ACPA's enactment. See E. & J. Gallo Winery v. Spider Webs Ltd., 286 F.3d 270, 277 (5th Cir.2002) ([A]lthough [the defendants] registered the domain name before the effective date of the ACPA, because they used the domain name after this date, they can be held liable for statutory damages for this use.); Shields v. Zuccarini, 254 F.3d 476, 486-87 (3d Cir.2001) (deciding that although the defendant had registered the domain names at issue before enactment of the ACPA, his continued use of the domain names after November 29, 1999 subjects him to the statute's proscriptions and remedies); Virtual Works, Inc. v. Volkswagen of Am., Inc., 238 F.3d 264, 268 (4th Cir.2001) (A person who unlawfully registers, traffics in, or uses a domain name after the ACPA's date of enactment, November 29, 1999, can be liable for monetary damages....). 26 We reject, therefore, Catalanotte's argument that the ACPA precludes an award of damages based on trafficking in a domain name that was registered before enactment of the ACPA, but that was trafficked in after the Act's enactment. According to the plain language of the Act, liability may be based on trafficking that occurred after the Act's enactment, regardless of when the domain name was registered. 27