NEW BERN, N.C. — Ruling in a cybersquatting case, an arbitrator has ordered the domain of porn site PornGiphy.com transferred to Giphy Inc., a company that has made its name known as a database of animated GIF files.
Giphy Inc., which also operates Giphy.com, a site that claims to be “the best and newest GIFs and animated stickers online,” filed a complaint with Forum arbitrators in August claiming that PornGiphy.com registrant Andrius Beisbolas of Lithuania was squatting on a domain that offered adult GIFs and advertising.
Giphy noted in its complaint that it holds a trademark registered in 2014 for the “Giphy” mark and that PornGiphy.com domain is confusingly similar to its own mark as it incorporates the mark in its entirety and merely adds the generic term “porn” and the generic top-level domain “.com.”
The arbitrator who heard the case ruled against Beisbolas, holding he had no legitimate interests operating the PornGiphy.com domain. Beisbolas never responded to the complaint.
“Respondent’s use of the PornGiphy.com domain to display pornographic content constitutes bad faith registration and use under policy,” the arbitrator said in an opinion that ordered the domain name transferred.