Internet Trademark Case Summaries

Future Media Architects, Inc. v. Deutsche Lufthansa AG

2008 WL 2686622 (S.D.N.Y. July 8, 2008)

Plaintiff Future Media Architects, Inc. (“Future Media”) was an Internet web development company and owned the domain name “lh.com.” Defendant Deutsche Lufthansa (“Lufthansa”) operated Lufthansa Airlines under the registered mark LUFTHANSA and claimed rights to the mark LH. Lufthansa filed a UDRP complaint after unsuccessfully attempting to purchase the lh.com domain name from Future Media. The UDRP panel ordered lh.com transferred to Lufthansa. Future Media filed suit to stay the UDRP decision and sought a declaratory judgment that it did not violate any of Lufthansa’s trademark rights, that Lufthansa’s alleged LH mark was invalid, and for cancellation of the registered mark LUFTHANSA. Lufthansa moved to dismiss, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, all claims addressing the LUFTHANSA mark, arguing there was “no cognizable case or controversy” regarding that mark. The district court agreed, stating that “the crux of the dispute . . . is LH, not LUFTHANSA.” The court ruled Future Media lacked standing to seek cancellation of the LUFTHANSA mark, as there was “no reasonable basis for plaintiff’s claim that it would be damaged in the absence of cancellation of the LUFTHANSA mark.”