The online auction giant held its nose at PerfumeBay.com, claiming its website diverted online surfers searching for the terms “perfume eBay” away from eBay.
On Monday, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 3-0, upheld a lower court’s ruling in September 2005 against PerfumeBay.com and Perfume-Bay.com.
With the opinion, the websites must get new names.
eBay for years has waged its legal might against websites with all numerous domain names that end with “bay.” It has closed down AutoBay.com, RentBay.com and other sites.
In the case, San Jose-based eBay argued that PerfumeBay.com was particularly confusing because it contains the exact spelling “eBay.”
The 9th Circuit also said that the domain’s dominant suffix was key to the case.
“The PerfumeBay marks contain either the entire eBay trademark or the dominant suffix “Bay,” the court wrote. “Perfumebay utilizes its marks on the Internet to sell products offered by eBay. With PerfumeBay’s marks, consumers may no longer associate the usage of the “Bay” suffix with eBay’s unique services ….”
Jacquelyn Tran, CEO of Huntington Beach-based Perfume Bay, said she would appeal and ask for an emergency stay of the injunction to keep operating Perfumebay.com. Tran also owns ScentGuru.com and BeautifulPerfumes.com.
The case is PerfumeBay.com vs. EBay.com, 05-56794.
