MIAMI – A Canadian corporation alleges a website with a similar name is harming its business.
Ebenisterie Beaubois Ltee filed a complaint on May 17 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Beaubois.com alleging that the internet domain name violated the Federal Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff is a Canadian company with a domain name of beaubois.ca. It alleges that it received inquiries from consumers who mistakenly believed that it was out of business because of the defendant's domain name. The suit states that when visiting Beaubois.com, there is a message stating it is for sale.
As a result, the plaintiff alleges it has suffered and will continue to suffer irreparable harm to its value and goodwill unless the defendant is permanently restrained and enjoined by the court.
The plaintiff holds Beaubois.com responsible because the defendant allegedly registered the domain name in bad faith with intent to demand compensation for the sale of the defendant domain name and provided material and misleading false contact information when applying for and maintaining the registration of the defendant domain name.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment in its favor on its claim of cybersquatting, an order that the registrant of the domain name relinquish all rights in and to Beaubois.com, an order for defendant's domain name be transferred to plaintiff, an award of costs and reasonable attorney’s fees and such other relief as the court may deem just and proper. It is represented by Gavin C. Gaukroger of Berger Singerman LLP in Fort Lauderdale.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Case number 0:16-cv-61055