Don't Mess With Donald Trump...Or His Domain Name

Sandra Long Consulting ("SLC"), based in Baltimore, Maryland, found out the hard way not to mess with "The Donald" Trump. SLC registered the domain name "trumplogos.com", resolving it to a website providing search results and links to real estate, travel, investment and other websites, some of which were associated with Trump and some of which were direct competitors with Trump.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Trump successfully got ownership of the domain transferred to him in a WIPO proceeding against SLC. The sole panelist ordering the transfer had no issue in holding Trump's clear rights in the TRUMP mark and reaffirmed the well-established principle that the inclusion of a generic term -- here, the generic term "logos" -- does not defeat the similarity created by use of a Complainant's mark. In determining SLC's bad faith intent in its registration and use of the mark, the panelist found persuasive the fame and reputation of the TRUMP mark, as well as the domain's resolve to commercial sites whereby SLC clearly appeared to be trading on Trump's fame and goodwill to attract Internet users to SLC's site.

Donald J. Trump v. Sandra Long Consulting, WIPO Case No. D2007-1226