Digital Playground had claimed that Network Telephone Services of Woodland Hills, Calif., purchased the domain in bad faith in 1995. Network Telephone Services' VirtualSex.com website offers adult DVDs, webcam sites, sex chat rooms, adult dating services and adult toys, and the company claimed it did not know of Digital Playground's trademark, considering "virtual sex" to be a generic term.
WIPO concluded that Network Telephone Services offered all the appropriate merchandise on its website to match its namesake, even if Digital Playground owns the trademark "Virtual Sex."
In the ruling, panelist M. Scott Donahey said, "The diverse offerings available on the website to which the domain name at issue resolves suggest that respondent is trading on the descriptiveness of the term 'virtual sex.'"
The WIPO ruling agreed with Digital Playground that the domain was "confusingly similar" to the valid Virtual Sex trademark, but still ruled in favor of Network Telephone Services, saying the domain could remain with its current owner because it made no sense why Digital Playground brought the complaint in January 2009, about 14 years after Network Telephone Services purchased the domain.
A spokesperson for Digital Playground said the company had no comment at this time.
The complete WIPO decision can be read here
