Claim That `Good’ .com Domains Are Gone Is Not Actionable

Statements that “all the good real estate is taken” in the .com top-level Internet domain are either non-actionable “puffery” or are in fact substantially true, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said Nov. 20, dismissing Verisign Inc.'s false advertising claims against upstart registry Xyz.com (Verisign, Inc. v. XYZ.com, LLC, 2015 BL 383576, E.D. Va., 1:14-cv-01749-CMH-MSN, 11/20/15).

Verisign brought false advertising claims under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a), against defendant Xyz.com LLC and its chief executive officer Daniel Negari for statements asserting that good domain names are unavailable in .com. ...