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Candidate for World's Worst Trademark Decisions
Posted by Ernest Miller on Monday, November 11 @ 09:18:21 EST Trademark
According to a decision of the National Arbitration Forum, and reported on Law.com, Houston business man Marcus Schatte, who has registered a trademark in the word "sex" for refrigerator magnets and certain "educational" materials, has the right to deny a Korean man from using the "sex.biz" URL under the Start-Up Trademark Opposition Policy (STOP) (Domain Name Owner Has Right to 'Sex'). Read the NAF decision (Marcus R. Schatte d/b/a Sex v. Personal). Registering a trademark for the incredibly generic term like "sex" for a line of refrigerator magnets is enough to prevent other people from using a domain name? According to the arbiter:
Although the mark SEX may be generic, complainant demonstrated to the United States Patent and Trademark Office that there is a distinctive, unique or secondary meaning to the mark and was granted full registration.

As usual, ICANNWatch has an informative post as well as informative comments (SEX.BIZ Registrant Gets Screwed by STOP). My favorite?:

When somebody yells "STOP!" and then gets sex, isn't that known as rape?
 
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