You are on page 1of 17

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS


FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

DSPT INTERNATIONAL, INC., a 


California corporation, No. 08-55062
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.  D.C. No.
CV-06-00308-ODW
LUCKY NAHUM, an individual, OPINION
Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Otis D. Wright, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted


May 6, 2009—Pasadena, California

Filed October 27, 2010

Before: Cynthia Holcomb Hall, Andrew J. Kleinfeld and


Barry G. Silverman, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Kleinfeld

17849
17852 DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM

COUNSEL

Andres F. Quintana, Quintana Law Group, APC, Woodland


Hills, California, for the appellant.

John C. Gorman, Gorman & Miller, P.C., San Jose, Califor-


nia, for the appellee.
DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM 17853
OPINION

KLEINFELD, Circuit Judge:

We address the scope of the Anticybersquatting Consumer


Protection Act.

I. Facts

This case was tried to a jury, and the appellant challenges


the jury verdict, so we “view the evidence in the light most
favorable to the nonmoving party . . . and draw all reasonable
inferences in that party’s favor.”1

DSPT, founded and owned by Paolo Dorigo, designs, man-


ufactures, and imports men’s clothing. The company sells
clothes to between 500 and 700 retailers. It sells mostly shirts,
but also some knitwear, trousers, and t-shirts. Its brand name
since 1988 had been Equilibrio. To serve a younger market
with somewhat “trendier, tighter fitting fashion,” the company
created the EQ brand name in 1999.

At about that time, Dorigo brought his friend Lucky Nahum


into the business. Dorigo lived in Los Angeles, Nahum in
Rochester, New York. They decided to set up a site on what
was then the fledgling internet, and Nahum’s brother, a hair-
dresser, was doing part-time website design, so DSPT had
Nahum arrange to have his brother prepare the site. The web-
site, “www.eq-Italy.com” (eq for the brand, Italy for Dorigo’s
and the style’s origin), was created solely for DSPT for the
purpose of showing DSPT clothes. Nahum’s brother designed
the website in consultation with Dorigo, though Nahum regis-
tered the site to himself. This seemed trivial at the time, since
Nahum was working exclusively for DSPT and registration
cost only $25. Dorigo, who was not knowledgeable or inter-
1
Josephs v. Pac. Bell, 443 F.3d 1050, 1062 (9th Cir. 2006).
17854 DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM
ested in computer matters, was unaware that the registration
was in Nahum’s name.

The importance of the website grew with the importance of


the internet. By 2005, the website served as DSPT’s catalog.
Customers accessed it 24 hours a day, chose designs from it,
and sent in orders through it. DSPT e-mailed them about new
items on the site. Salesmen sold DSPT clothes to retailers by
referring them to pictures on the website and soliciting their
orders based on the pictures.

Unfortunately, during the same period, the friendship


between Dorigo and Nahum soured. Nahum’s DSPT contract
was up for renewal August 31, 2005, so Dorigo sent him a
proposal in mid-August. At the same time, DSPT paid
Nahum’s airfare, hotel, and meals for a trip to Las Vegas for
the West Coast Exclusive Wear show, an offshoot of the larg-
est menswear show in the world (MAGIC, Men’s Apparel
Guild in California) which was taking place in Las Vegas. But
while there, Nahum spent time in a competitor’s booth, and
arranged employment with that DSPT competitor. Though
Dorigo was also at the show and asked Nahum whether he
would be renewing his contract, Nahum only informed
Dorigo by e-mail after the show that he was not renewing his
contract.

At the beginning of October, DSPT’s website mysteriously


disappeared. If a customer typed “eq-Italy.com” into his web
browser, instead of seeing DSPT’s clothing line, all he saw
was a screen saying “All fashion related questions to be
referred to Lucky Nahum at: lnahum@yahoo.com.” Nahum
had no use for the website, but he told his new boss at DSPT’s
competitor that “he had inserted that sentence in order to get
Equilibrio [DSPT’s older brand] to pay him funds that were
due to him.” DSPT repeatedly but unsuccessfully asked
Nahum to give back the website.

This created a crisis for DSPT. Retailers do around three


fourths of their business during the last quarter of the year, so
DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM 17855
wholesalers and manufacturers, like DSPT, do a large per-
centage of their business supplying retailers during October,
November, and the first part of December. DSPT’s website in
the fall also generated the orders for the upcoming spring.
Without its website, DSPT could not sell anything in a man-
ner approaching its previous efficiency. It was forced to go
back to the old way of sending out samples, but retailers did
not want to deal with DSPT using the old method. Sales
plummeted and inventory was left over in the spring from the
very bad fall. 2004 had been good, and the first quarter of
2005 was the best ever, but the last quarter of 2005, and all
of 2006, were disastrous. A lot of inventory had to be sold
below cost. DSPT spent $31,572.72, plus a great deal of time,
writing to customers to explain the situation and replacing its
website and the stationery that referred customers to
“eq-Italy.com.”

DSPT sued Nahum for “cybersquatting” and trademark


infringement in violation of the Lanham Act.2 Nahum coun-
terclaimed for $14,936.86 in additional commissions he
claimed he was owed.

The case was tried to a jury. The jury returned a special


verdict, finding, among other things, that “EQ” and
“Equilibrio” were valid trademarks owned by DSPT; that
“Lucky Nahum registered, trafficked in, or used the
www.eq-Italy.com domain name”; that the name was identi-
2
Only the cybersquatting claim is on appeal. DSPT also brought claims
(1) for unfair competition and misleading advertising under California
Business and Professional Code §§ 17200 and 17500, (2) for intentional
interference with prospective business relations, and (3) for negligent
interference with prospective business relations. DSPT voluntarily dis-
missed its negligent interference claim. After trial, the district court
granted Nahum’s motion for judgment as a matter of law as to the trade-
mark infringement claim and the intentional interference claim. The dis-
trict court also rejected DSPT’s claims under sections 17200 and 17500.
DSPT also sued Jaysix, the competitor for whom Nahum went to work,
but all claims against Jaysix were dismissed and are not before us.
17856 DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM
cal or confusingly similar to DSPT’s distinctive trademark;
and that “Lucky Nahum commit[ed] the acts with a bad faith
intent to profit from DSPT’s mark.” The jury found that
DSPT’s damages were $152,000. As for Nahum’s counter-
claim for commissions, the jury found that DSPT did not
breach its contract with him and owed him nothing.

The district court denied Nahum’s renewed motions for


judgment as a matter of law, remittitur, and new trial. Nahum
appeals, and we affirm.

II. Analysis

A. Standard of Review

We review denial of a motion for judgment as a matter of


law de novo,3 and denial of a motion for new trial and remitti-
tur for abuse of discretion.4 A district court may grant a new
trial only if the jury verdict is contrary to the clear weight of
the evidence.5 The district court’s denial of a motion for a new
trial is reversible “only if the record contains no evidence in
support of the verdict” or if the district court “made a mistake
of law.”6 “A jury’s verdict must be upheld if it is supported
by substantial evidence, which is evidence adequate to sup-
port the jury’s conclusion, even if it is also possible to draw
a contrary conclusion.”7 “We must view the evidence in the
light most favorable to the nonmoving party . . . and draw all
reasonable inferences in that party’s favor.”8 A jury verdict
3
Pavao v. Pagay, 307 F.3d 915, 918 (9th Cir. 2002).
4
Cooper v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 945 F.2d 1103, 1107-08 (9th
Cir. 1991).
5
Silver Sage Partners Ltd. v. City of Desert Hot Springs, 251 F.3d 814,
819 (9th Cir. 2001).
6
Molski v. M.J. Cable, Inc., 481 F.3d 724, 729 (9th Cir. 2007) (internal
quotation marks and citations omitted).
7
Pavao, 307 F.3d at 918.
8
Josephs v. Pac. Bell, 443 F.3d 1050, 1062 (9th Cir. 2006).
DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM 17857
should be set aside only when “the evidence permits only one
reasonable conclusion, and that conclusion is contrary to the
jury’s verdict.”9

On appeal, Nahum argues that the anti-cybersquatting stat-


ute has no application to the conduct in this case, that DSPT
did not own the trademarks and that EQ-Italy was not identi-
cal or confusingly similar to DSPT’s marks, that there was no
evidence of bad-faith intent to profit, and that there was insuf-
ficient evidence to support the damages award.

B. The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.

[1] The Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act


establishes civil liability for “cyberpiracy” where a plaintiff
proves that (1) the defendant registered, trafficked in, or used
a domain name; (2) the domain name is identical or confus-
ingly similar to a protected mark owned by the plaintiff; and
(3) the defendant acted “with bad faith intent to profit from
that mark.”10

Nahum first argues that as a matter of law, this statute does


not apply to what he did. He argues that the statute applies
9
Id.
10
In relevant part, the statute reads:
A person shall be liable in a civil action by the owner of a mark,
including a personal name which is protected as a mark under
this section, if, without regard to the goods or services of the par-
ties, that person—
(i) has a bad faith intent to profit from that mark, including
a personal name which is protected as a mark under this sec-
tion; and
(ii) registers, traffics in, or uses a domain name that—
(I) in the case of a mark that is distinctive at the time of
registration of the domain name, is identical or confus-
ingly similar to that mark.
15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)(1)(A).
17858 DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM
only to one who registers a well-known trademark as a
domain name, and then attempts to profit in bad faith by
either (1) selling the domain name back to the trademark
holder, or (2) using the domain name to divert business from
the trademark holder. He argues that he cannot owe damages
under the statute because the evidence shows only that he
used DSPT’s mark to gain leverage over DSPT in bargaining
for money he claimed he was owed, not to sell under DSPT’s
mark or sell the mark to DSPT. He argues that even if in some
sense he had a bad-faith intent to profit, any “intent to profit”
under the act must be an intent to profit from the goodwill
associated with the mark rather than to gain some other bene-
fit. The core of his argument is that he did not register the
domain name in bad faith, and used it only to get what he was
entitled to.

[2] His arguments are not implausible, but we conclude


that they are mistaken. True, the statute was intended to pre-
vent cybersquatters from registering well-known brand names
as internet domain names in order to make the trademark
owners buy the ability to do business under their own names.11
Nahum cites a remark in a Senate Committee report mention-
ing the intent to profit from the goodwill associated with
someone else’s trademark.12 And the Sixth Circuit noted that
“[t]he paradigmatic harm that the [Anticybersquatting Con-
sumer Protection Act] was enacted to eradicate [was] the
practice of cybersquatters registering several hundred domain
names in an effort to sell them to the legitimate owners of the
mark.”13
11
Interstellar Starship Servs., Ltd. v. Epix, Inc., 304 F.3d 936, 946 (9th
Cir. 2002).
12
S. Rep. No. 106-140 at 9-10 (1999), available at http://frwebgate.
access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=106_cong_reports&docid=f:sr
140.pdf.
13
Lucas Nursery & Landscaping, Inc. v. Grosse, 359 F.3d 806, 810 (6th
Cir. 2004).
DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM 17859
[3] But the statute, like so many, is written more broadly
than what may have been the political catalyst that got it
passed. As in Bosley Medical Institute v. Kremer, we con-
clude that the words of the statute are broader than this politi-
cal stimulus that led to its enactment.14 Though there was no
evidence of anything wrong with Nahum’s registration of the
domain name to himself, the evidence supported a verdict that
Nahum subsequently, years later, used the domain name to
get leverage for his claim for commissions. The statute says
“registers, traffics in, or uses,” with “or” between the terms,
so use alone is enough to support a verdict, even in the
absence of violative registration or trafficking.

[4] As for whether use to get leverage in a business dispute


can establish a violation, the statutory factors for “bad faith
intent” establish that it can.15 “Evidence of bad faith may arise
14
403 F.3d 672, 680-81 (9th Cir. 2005).
15
15 U.S.C. §§ 1125(d)(1)(B)(i)(I)-(IX). The factors considered are:
(I) the trademark or other intellectual property rights of the
person, if any, in the domain name;
(II) the extent to which the domain name consists of the legal
name of the person or a name that is otherwise commonly used
to identify that person;
(III) the person’s prior use, if any, of the domain name in con-
nection with the bona fide offering of any goods or services;
(IV) the person’s bona fide noncommercial or fair use of the
mark in a site accessible under the domain name;
(V) the person’s intent to divert consumers from the mark
owner’s online location to a site accessible under the domain
name that could harm the goodwill represented by the mark,
either for commercial gain or with the intent to tarnish or dispar-
age the mark, by creating a likelihood of confusion as to the
source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the site;
(VI) the person’s offer to transfer, sell, or otherwise assign the
domain name to the mark owner or any third party for financial
gain without having used, or having an intent to use, the domain
name in the bona fide offering of any goods or services, or the
person’s prior conduct indicating a pattern of such conduct;
17860 DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM
well after registration of the domain name.”16 The statute con-
tains a safe harbor provision, excluding a finding of “bad faith
intent” for persons who reasonably believed that use of the
domain name was fair use or otherwise lawful,17 but that safe
harbor has no application here. Nahum could not have reason-
ably believed that he could lawfully use “eq-Italy” when he
no longer worked for DSPT. The safe harbor protects uses
such as parody and comment,18 and use by persons ignorant
of another’s superior right to the mark.19

[5] The statute provides that a court “may consider factors


such as, but not limited to” the previously enumerated list of
nine.20 Nahum does not challenge the jury instruction, which
listed all of the factors, even though some have no bearing on

(VII) the person’s provision of material and misleading false


contact information when applying for the registration of the
domain name, the person’s intentional failure to maintain accu-
rate contact information, or the person’s prior conduct indicating
a pattern of such conduct;
(VIII) the person’s registration or acquisition of multiple
domain names which the person knows are identical or confus-
ingly similar to marks of others that are distinctive at the time of
registration of such domain names, or dilutive of famous marks
of others that are famous at the time of registration of such
domain names, without regard to the goods or services of the par-
ties; and
(IX) the extent to which the mark incorporated in the person’s
domain name registration is or is not distinctive and famous
within the meaning of subsection (c) of this section.
16
Lahoti v. VeriCheck, Inc., 586 F.3d 1190, 1202 (9th Cir. 2009) (cita-
tion omitted).
17
15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)(1)(B)(ii).
18
See, e.g., Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc., 296 F.3d 894, 906-07 (9th
Cir. 2002).
19
See, e.g., 15 U.S.C. § 1114 (innocent infringement by publishers); 15
U.S.C. § 1115 (innocent infringement as a defense to right to use a mark).
20
See supra n.15; see also 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)(1)(B)(i).
DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM 17861
this case, and some do not offer either side much support. One
of the factors, number VI in the statute, strongly supports
DSPT’s claim. That factor notes that it is “indicative” of a
“bad faith intent to profit” from the mark if the person offer-
ing to transfer the domain name to the owner of the mark has
never actually used or intended to use the domain name for
bona fide sales of goods.21

[6] Factor VI may fairly be read to mean that it is bad faith


to hold a domain name for ransom,22 where the holder uses it
to get money from the owner of the trademark rather than to
sell goods. The jury had evidence that Nahum was using the
“eq-Italy.com” domain name as leverage to get DSPT to pay
him the disputed commissions, not for the bona fide sale of
clothes. Though there was no direct evidence of an explicit
offer to sell the domain to DSPT for a specified amount, the
jury could infer the intent to give back the site to DSPT only
if DSPT paid Nahum the disputed commissions.

The “intent to profit,” as factor VI shows, means simply the


intent to get money or other valuable consideration. “Profit”
does not require that Nahum receive more than he is owed on
his disputed claim. Rather, “[p]rofit includes an attempt to
procure an advantageous gain or return.”23 Thus, it does not
21
The subprovision reads: “the person’s offer to transfer, sell, or other-
wise assign the domain name to the mark owner or any third party for
financial gain without having used, or having an intent to use, the domain
name in the bona fide offering of any goods or services, or the person’s
prior conduct indicating a pattern of such conduct . . . .” 15 U.S.C.
§ 1125(d)(1)(B)(i)(VI).
22
See Bosley Med. Inst., Inc. v. Kremer, 403 F.3d 672, 680 (9th Cir.
2005) (stating that cybersquatting “occurs when a person other than the
trademark holder registers the domain name of a well known trademark
and then attempts to profit from this by either ransoming the domain name
back to the trademark holder or by using the domain name to divert busi-
ness from the trademark holder to the domain name holder.” (emphasis
added) (quoting DaimlerChrysler v. The Net Inc., 388 F.3d 201, 204 (6th
Cir. 2004))).
23
Coca-Cola Co. v. Purdy, 382 F.3d 774, 786 (8th Cir. 2004) (internal
quotation marks omitted).
17862 DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM
matter that, as the jury concluded, Nahum’s claim for unpaid
commissions was meritless, because he could not hold the
domain name for ransom even if he had been owed commis-
sions.

[7] In this case, shortly after DSPT’s content disappeared


from eq-Italy.com, Nahum e-mailed Dorigo stating that the
eq-Italy.com website would be back up under a new format.
Nahum testified that he would transfer the domain to DSPT
after Nahum and DSPT were able to resolve the “monetary
issues regarding [Nahum’s] commissions.” Nahum’s subse-
quent employer testified that Nahum told him that DSPT
wanted the website returned to them, but Nahum was keeping
it to use it as leverage in order to get the money he said DSPT
owed him. This is evidence of an “intent to profit” under the
Act.

C. Distinctive and Confusingly Similar

[8] Nahum’s second argument is that there was no evi-


dence from which a jury could conclude that
“www.eq-Italy.com” was a distinctive mark, or that it was
confusingly similar to DSPT’s “EQ” mark. The latter point is
meritless, since the evidence showed that only DSPT used the
mark “EQ” for a men’s shirts line, and used the Italian fashion
connection as a selling point. Even though DSPT had not reg-
istered the “EQ” mark, ownership of common law trademark
“is obtained by actual use of a symbol to identify the goods
or services of one seller and distinguish them from those
offered by others.”24 The evidence shows that DSPT used the
mark in commerce in fall 1999, when it exhibited EQ at the
New York fashion shows25 and thereafter used the “EQ” sym-
bol. Although Nahum showed that others used an “EQ” mark
24
2 J.T. McCarthy, Trademarks and Unfair Competition § 16:1 (4th ed.
2010). See also Chance v. Pac-Tel Teletrac Inc., 242 F.3d 1151, 1156 (9th
Cir. 2001).
25
See Chance, 242 F.3d at 1156-59 (applying totality of the circum-
stances test and determining that pre-sales activity could qualify mark for
trademark protection); New West Corp. v. NYM Co. of Cal., Inc., 595 F.2d
1194, 1199 (9th Cir. 1979) (holding “that appellee established a prior use
of the mark without an actual sale”); see generally 2 McCarthy §§ 16:12-
14.
DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM 17863
in subsequent years for other sorts of goods, such as online
publications, engine cylinder heads, and bicycles, no one
would likely confuse these goods with DSPT’s.26 The only
other use that was even arguably confusingly similar was EQ
equestrian clothing, but the jury could conclude that retailers
shopping for men’s shirts are unlikely to be confused by a
mark also used for equestrian clothing, and that the style in
which the marks were displayed was too different to foster
confusion. The shirts were marked by the letters EQ, whereas
the equestrian apparel was marked by a rectangle inside
another rectangle.

[9] As for whether “eq-Italy.com” is “confusingly similar”27


to EQ, a jury could reasonably conclude that in the context of
men’s shirts, it was. The jury could have concluded that, at
the time Nahum used it, the mark was distinctive and his use
of the site after leaving DSPT would confuse retailers trying
to shop DSPT’s catalog at the website where they had done
so before.28 In fact, as Dorigo testified, several customers
were actually confused by the alteration of the website. “Now,
people would still call and say, what happened? Where is it?
You know, they wanted to know what’s this screen?” By
26
Brookfield Commc’ns, Inc. v. W. Coast Entm’t Corp., 174 F.3d 1036,
1054 (9th Cir. 1999) (“Even where there is precise identity of a complain-
ant’s and an alleged infringer’s mark, there may be no consumer
confusion—and thus no trademark infringement—if the alleged infringer
is in a different geographic area or in a wholly different industry.” (citing
Weiner King, Inc. v. Wiener King Corp., 615 F.2d 512, 515-16 (C.C.P.A.
1980))).
27
The relevant subprovision is 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)(1)(A)(i)(I), which
attaches liability to a person who “registers, traffics in, or uses a domain
name that[,] in the case of a mark that is distinctive at the time of registra-
tion of the domain name, is identical or confusingly similar to that mark
. . . .”
28
The usual eight factors from AMF Inc. v. Sleekcraft Boats for deter-
mining whether passing off one’s goods as another is “confusingly simi-
lar” are a poor fit in this context, because they are designed to address a
different social harm than the cybersquatting statute. 599 F.2d 341, 348-49
(9th Cir. 1979).
17864 DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM
2005, eq-Italy.com was identified with EQ and Equilibrio.
The similarity of “EQ” and “eq-Italy” is considerably greater
than “perfumebay.com” and “ebay.com,” which we held were
similar, and thus the jury’s finding should be upheld.29

D. Damages

[10] Nahum argues that there was insufficient evidence to


support the damages award of $152,000. Under the cyber-
squatting statute, DSPT was entitled to “any damages” it sus-
tained,30 which, like tort damages, are the reasonably
foreseeable harms caused by the wrong.31 The district court
barred the testimony of DSPT’s expert witness (a ruling not
on appeal), so there was no testimony supporting a precise
number. But the jury did have as admitted exhibits DSPT’s
2002-2006 financial statements providing detailed informa-
tion on sales, expenses, and profits for all those years, as well
as DSPT’s president’s testimony about the financial impact of
Nahum’s cyberpiracy.

The wronged party has the burden of proof as to damages,32


but the nature of the proof required depends on the circum-
stances of the case.33 The calculation is “subject to the princi-
ples of equity.”34 Because Nahum did not, so far as the record
indicates, divert trade from DSPT to himself or his new
29
Perfumebay.com Inc. v. Ebay, Inc., 506 F.3d 1165, 1174 (9th Cir.
2007).
30
15 U.S.C. § 1117(a).
31
Lindy Pen Co. v. Bic Pen Corp., 982 F.2d 1400, 1407 (9th Cir. 1993)
(quoting 2 J.T. McCarthy, Trademarks and Unfair Competition § 30:27,
at 509 (2d ed. 1984)). See also Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition
§ 36(1) (1995).
32
Lindy, 982 F.2d at 1407; see also Restatement (Third) of Unfair Com-
petition § 36 cmt. c (1995).
33
Southland Sod Farms v. Stover Seed Co., 108 F.3d 1134, 1146 (9th
Cir. 1997); Lindy, 982 F.2d at 1410-11.
34
15 U.S.C. § 1117(a).
DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM 17865
employer, “defendant’s profits”35 were not sought and are not
at issue, only consequential damages to DSPT.

[11] Nahum’s conduct was not an unintentional infringe-


ment where the defendant failed to provide financial informa-
tion it should have been able to provide, as in Lindy Pen Co.,
Inc. v. Bic Pen Corp.36 It was an intentional infringement, so
our language in Intel Corporation v. Terabyte International,
Inc.37 applies. In Intel, we affirmed a “crude” measure of dam-
ages that depended on an inference that was “not inexorable,
neither [was] it fanciful.”38

[12] In the circumstances of this case, precision in the cal-


culation of damages is neither necessary nor possible.
Nahum’s wrong made it impossible to know with any preci-
sion what DSPT’s sales would have been had he not commit-
ted his wrong. Requiring more precision than can be attained,
especially where the impossibility of more precise ascertain-
ment was the fault of the wrongdoer, would be inequitable
and is not required. “[A] defendant whose wrongful conduct
has rendered difficult the ascertainment of the precise dam-
ages suffered by the plaintiff, is not entitled to complain that
they cannot be measured with the same exactness and preci-
sion as would otherwise be possible.”39 Just as a business
could not know how many phone calls it did not get because
its phone number was wrong in the yellow pages, DSPT could
not know how many shirts it did not sell because retailers
could not find its website.

[13] Given the impossibility of precise measurements, the


jury had sufficient tools for estimating DSPT’s actual dam-
35
Id.
36
982 F.2d 1400 (9th Cir. 1993).
37
6 F.3d 614 (9th Cir. 1993).
38
Id. at 621.
39
Eastman Kodak Co. of N.Y. v. S. Photo Materials Co., 273 U.S. 359,
379 (1927).
17866 DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM
ages, including financial statements bracketing the period of
the loss and testimony that DSPT spent $31,572.72 recreating
its website. The law does not require expert testimony to
establish damages,40 though that would have made the jury’s
task easier. It is hard to see what additional data, as opposed
to opinion, could have been provided that would have been of
any use. Nahum argues that DSPT is not entitled to damages
for the expense of recreating the website, but we cannot see
why not, since that was a natural and foreseeable consequence
of his holding the original site for ransom.

The testimony and DSPT’s financial statements showed


gross profits down around $620,000 in 2006, after an excel-
lent start in early 2005 but a decline when the website disap-
peared after Nahum took his new job. DSPT presented
evidence that the August 2005 show went very well and that
the men’s clothing market generally went up in 2005-2006.
“Proof of a decline in sales combined with evidence tending
to discount the importance of other market factors, such as the
evidence of positive business conditions and the success of
similar businesses not subject to the defendant’s tortious con-
duct, can be sufficient to establish a causal connection
between the plaintiff’s decline in sales and the misconduct of
the defendant.”41
40
Section 1117 “confers a wide scope of discretion upon the district
judge in the fashioning of a remedy.” Maier Brewing Co. v. Fleischmann
Distilling Corp., 390 F.2d 117, 121 (9th Cir. 1968). Many sources can pro-
vide the requisite information upon which a reasonable jury may calculate
damages. Cf. Louis Vuitton S.A. v. Spencer Handbags Corp., 765 F.2d
966, 973 (2d Cir. 1985) (upholding calculation of damages based on state-
ments made on a videotape and noting that “[r]ecovery under section 1117
is not limited to cases in which the quantum of actual damages is demon-
strated.”).
41
Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition § 36 cmt. h (1995); see
also Eastman Kodak Co. of N.Y. v. S. Photo Materials Co., 273 U.S. 359,
379 (1927) (“The plaintiff had an established business, and the future prof-
its could be shown by past experience. It was permissible to arrive at net
profits by deducting from the gross profits of an earlier period an esti-
mated expense of doing business.”).
DSPT INTERNATIONAL v. NAHUM 17867
[14] We must uphold the jury’s damages verdict “when-
ever possible, and all presumptions are in favor of the judg-
ment.”42 It is quite possible that the jurors believed Dorigo’s
testimony about the impact on sales of the unavailability of
DSPT’s website, and some jurors were familiar with financial
statements and went through them, showing the other jurors
that $150,000 was a reasonable estimate of the lost profits and
replacement cost. In closing argument, DSPT’s lawyer argued
based on the financial statements for lost sales of $1,200,000
for the relevant period, and a profit margin around 20%, plus
approximately $32,000 for rebuilding the web site. After sub-
tracting $32,000 from the $152,000 award, only $120,000 of
lost profits need to be justified. DSPT’s closing argument
would suggest a figure of about $240,000 for lost profits
(20% of $1,200,000). The jury might reasonably have exam-
ined the financial statements, discounted the $240,000 in light
of the financial statements and in light of other inferences that
might explain some of the loss, and concluded that about one
half DSPT’s lawyer’s argued figure, $120,000, was a fair esti-
mate of its lost profits. That would not be unreasonable.

III. Conclusion

Even if a domain name was put up innocently and used


properly for years, a person is liable under 15 U.S.C.
§ 1125(d) if he subsequently uses the domain name with a bad
faith intent to profit from the protected mark by holding the
domain name for ransom. The evidence sufficiently supported
the jury’s verdict that Nahum did so, causing $152,000 in
damages to DSPT.

AFFIRMED.

42
Bouman v. Block, 940 F.2d 1211, 1234 (9th Cir. 1991).

You might also like