Opinion ID: 779795
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Role of Subsection (d)(2)(C) Within the Statutory Scheme

Text: 40 Mattel contends that if subsection (d)(2)(A) required a trademark owner to commence an in rem action only in the judicial district in which the domain-name registrar or a similar authority is located, then subsection (d)(2)(C)(ii) would be rendered meaningless because subsection (d)(2)(C)(i) would always apply. Another way of phrasing Mattel's argument is to ask why Congress chose to conjoin subsections (d)(2)(C)(i) and (d)(2)(C)(ii) by or instead of and — the more logical choice, at first glance, if Congress's intention had been to confine in rem litigation to the judicial district of registration. 10 Assuming, as we must, that Congress's choice of the disjunctive carries significance, see Reiter v. Sonotone Corp., 442 U.S. 330, 339, 99 S.Ct. 2326, 60 L.Ed.2d 931 (1979) (Canons of construction ordinarily suggest that terms connected by a disjunctive be given separate meanings, unless the context dictates otherwise ....), we find no inconsistency between the implied possibility of more than one domain-name situs under subsection (d)(2)(C) and the clear limitation of in rem jurisdiction to one judicial district under subsection (d)(2)(A). Mattel's error is in assuming that subsections (d)(2)(A) and (d)(2)(C) both address jurisdiction. They do not. We have already observed that the former subsection is the operative jurisdiction-granting provision within § 1125(d)(2), while the latter serves to describe the legal situs of the disputed property for purposes of securing the district court's control and authority over that property during the litigation. Cf. Cable News Network, 162 F.Supp.2d at 489 n. 15 (holding that subsection (d)(2)(C) does not confer in rem jurisdiction but merely describes the domain name's legal situs). Moreover, as noted above, subsections (d)(2)(A), (d)(2)(C), and (d)(2)(D) work together to indicate that the legal situs of a domain name must be a judicial district in which an in rem action was properly commenced. 41 It is not difficult to imagine scenarios in which the disjunctive or in subsection (d)(2)(C) might become meaningful. 11 Suppose, for example, that an in rem action is properly commenced by the filing of a complaint in the Southern District of New York, where the disputed domain name's registrar is located. Prior to depositing documentation with the district court pursuant to subsection (d)(2)(D), however, the registrar relocates to the Northern District of Oklahoma, effectively removing the subject property from the Southern District. 12 The or in subsection (d)(2)(C) recognizes that the action could continue in the Southern District of New York once the registrar had dispatched documents from Oklahoma sufficient to secure the Southern District as the legal situs of the domain name. 13 See Standing Stone Media, 193 F.Supp.2d at 535 ([S]ubsection (d)(2)(C) may also be read as a savings provision in the event that the registrar of a domain name moves out of the judicial district where the action was commenced, goes out of business or sells its interests to another company in the time period between the filing of the complaint and the deposit of the required certificates of registration.). 42 Suppose, again, that the disputed domain name's registrar is located in the Southern District of New York, but the domain name's registry is based in the Northern District of Oklahoma. 14 The trademark owner has properly filed an in rem action in the Southern District of New York, where the domain name registrar, domain name registry, or other domain name authority that registered or assigned the domain name is located, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)(2)(A) (emphasis added), only to discover that the Oklahoma registry, not the New York registrar, is the entity that maintains and issues official records regarding domain-name registration. Rather than refiling the in rem action in the Northern District of Oklahoma, the plaintiff or the court, supported by the language of subsection (d)(2)(C), could simply see to it that the Oklahoma registry deposited documentation sufficient to establish the domain name's legal situs within the Southern District of New York. Cf. Fleet-Boston, 138 F.Supp.2d at 125 (Subparagraph (2)(C), which defines the situs of the domain name either in the judicial district of the domain name registrar, registry, or other domain name authority ((C)(i)), or where documents establishing control of the registration are deposited with the court, ((C)(ii)), exists to facilitate the continuation of litigation in one of the districts identified in subparagraph (2)(A). (emphasis in original)). 43 Each of these hypothetical scenarios is consistent with the language and structure of § 1125(d)(2), which require that an in rem action under the ACPA be commenced in the judicial district in which the subject domain name's registrar, registry, or other authority is located, followed by deposit of sufficient domain-name documentation with the court in that district. No scenario consistent with this statutory scheme, however, would permit an ACPA plaintiff to establish in rem jurisdiction by filing a complaint in a judicial district not contemplated by subsection (d)(2)(A) and then unilaterally seeking to effect a transfer of legal situs to that district. Cf. R.M.S. Titanic, Inc. v. Haver, 171 F.3d 943 (4th Cir.1999) (holding that when a res is not in the court's actual or constructive possession, traditional principles of in rem jurisdiction dictate that the court may not adjudicate rights to the res and effectively bind others who may have possession); see also Restatement (Second) of Conflicts of Laws § 60 cmt. d (1971) (A State will not usually exercise judicial jurisdiction to affect interests in a chattel brought into its territory without the consent of the owner....). 44 It follows that, in the present case, Mattel's unauthorized arrangement to have registrar's certificates for captainbarbie.com and the other Domain Names transferred from Maryland, Virginia, and California for deposit with the Southern District of New York was an inappropriate and ineffectual method of establishing in rem jurisdiction under the ACPA. Cf. Greatdomains.Com, 177 F.Supp.2d at 659 (holding an ACPA plaintiff's actions insufficient to establish in rem jurisdiction and to satisfy the fairness requirements of the Constitution where [t]he only connection between the domain names and the forum... is that the domain names have been `brought' into the forum by [plaintiff] to facilitate its convenience in litigating the matter). Simply put, Mattel attempted to create jurisdiction in a judicial district where the disputed property or its legal situs was not voluntarily or legitimately located for purposes of in rem jurisdiction. 45 In sum, we hold that the ACPA's basic in rem jurisdictional grant, contained in subsection (d)(2)(A), contemplates exclusively a judicial district within which the registrar or other domain-name authority is located. A plaintiff must initiate an in rem action by filing a complaint in that judicial district and no other. Upon receiving proper written notification that the complaint has been filed, the domain-name authority must deposit with the court documentation sufficient to establish the court's control and authority regarding the disposition of ... the domain name, as required by subsection (d)(2)(D). This combination of filing and depositing rules encompasses the basic, mandatory procedure for bringing and maintaining an in rem action under the ACPA. Subsection (d)(2)(C) contributes to this scheme by descriptively summarizing the domain name's legal situs as established and defined in the procedures set forth in subsections (d)(2)(A) and (d)(2)(D). Accordingly, we affirm the district court's conclusion that it did not have in rem jurisdiction over the Domain Names in this action.