LOS ANGELES — Manwin is getting closer to winning a default judgment against Nicholas Bulgin, who allegedly registered Manwin.net, Manwin.co, Brazzer.us, ManwinSucks.com and other sites in an effort to make extortion attempts against the company.
The cybersquatting and defamation suit against Bulgin, who apparently goes by such names as "Radishdreams" and "Gill Manwinder," has been one sided — all Manwin — because the court hasn't heard a peep from Bulgin, who lives in Georgia.
Just last week, a federal court clerk in Los Angeles made an entry of default against Bulgin, who was served a court summons in July. An entry of default paves the way for a default judgment and limits a defendant from litigating his case or presenting evidence.
The case against Bulgin, as well as other defendants, was initiated in April after Manwin officials took notice of Manwin.net, which included defamatory pieces relative to child porn on the site.
Manwin says in the suit that Bulgin and other defendants registered the domain name Manwin.net, using the name Gill Manwinder to create a scheme to cause havoc at the company.
In one instance, Manwin says that Bulgin and the other defendants interfered in a U.S. trademark application after petitioning trademark examiners to cancel their application.
In the petition Manwinder claimed that Manwin, the adult entertainment conglomerate, tarnished his family's name. Manwinder, according to submitted documents to the examiners, claimed he was a businessman from the U.K. who was in the process of setting up various businesses using family name Manwinder.
In another instance, Bulgin and the defendants are accused of registering Manwin.co, using the name Yi Weng, which purported to be a Chinese woman who maintains a blog to discuss issues of spirituality and charity.
"In an attempt to justify use of the Manwin trademark [of Manwin.co], defendant titled this website "ManWin — the huMAN WiNdow to the soul," the suit said.
Manwin attorneys also say that the company had been victim to a threat, allegedly tied to Bulgin and others.
The threat, emailed from an encrypted web-based Hushmail account on July 5, was directed at Fabian Thylmann, the company's managing partner, and makes threats of cyberattacks on Manwin. The email, titled "My Gift to You Fabian," was sent through Hushmail by a user under "thehack@hushmail.me" address.
"I will keep this short," the email reads. "Tomorrow while your sites are active, we're going to find every flaw to your security. We come together as one to take down the giant ... ."
Manwin all along has charged in the suit that defendants "engaged in an elaborate scam to force Manwin to purchase the Manwin domains."
The Luxembourg-based adult company said that the defendants sent dozens of emails to Manwin and its employees threatening to dilute the Manwin trademark and divert Manwin's traffic if it did not purchase the domains.
Manwin later made a deal for some of the domains. But after the deal was brokered, the defendants reneged on the agreement and claimed that they would not transfer them, the suit said.
The suit charges Bulgin and the defendants with violation of the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, defamation, intentional interference with prospective advantage and unfair competition.
Manwin is asking for an injunction against the defendants from infringing on similar-worded Manwin names and domains, as well as Twitter and BlogSpot accounts; a transfer of infringing domains; and $100,000 in damages, as well as attorneys fees.
While Bulgin hasn't yet addressed the court, he told XBIZ Thursday by email that he's in disbelief that Manwin is continuing with a default judgment because he said he handed over the named websites in Manwin's complaint four months ago.
"This is one of those seriously ridiculous lawsuits, and when I reveal the entire history behind this case, the public will surely develop a new outlook," Bulgin said. "I plan to create a website which will include the entire timeline of events that led up to this case.
"If they don't like gripe sites about them, I'll probably get sued again for actually doing it now. I'm not sure about other countries but they have this thing called freedom of speech in America, which I plan to use."
