February 12, 2012

Nevyas v. Morgan III (UDRP Action)

NOTE: The information and commentary contained in this database entry are based on court filings and other informational sources that may contain unproven allegations made by the parties. The truthfulness and accuracy of such information is likely to be in dispute. Information contained in this entry is current as of the last event mentioned in the "Description" section below; additional proceedings might have taken place in this matter since this event.

Posted August 5th, 2010 by CMLP Staff

Summary

Threat Type: Lawsuit	Date: 07/01/2010
Status: Concluded	Location:
Disposition:	Verdict/Settlement Amount: n/a
Legal Claims: Cybersquatting; Trademark Infringement
On July 1, 2010, Drs. Herbert Nevyas and Dr. Anita Nevyas-Wallace, two Pennsylvania LASIK surgeons, filed requests for arbitration under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy ("UDRP") with the National Arbitration Forum ("NAF"), seeking the transfer of the domain names NevyasLasik.com, HerbertNevyasLasik.com, and... read full description

Parties

Party Issuing Legal Threat:	Party Receiving Legal Threat:
Dr. Herbert Nevyas and Dr. Anita Nevyas-Wallace	Dom Morgan
Type of Party:	Type of Party:
Individual	Individual
Location of Party:	Location of Party:
Pennsylvania	New Jersey
Legal Counsel:	Legal Counsel:
Bryna S. Scott, Flaster/Greenberg, P.C.

Description

On July 1, 2010, Drs. Herbert Nevyas and Dr. Anita Nevyas-Wallace, two Pennsylvania LASIK surgeons, filed requests for arbitration under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy ("UDRP") with the National Arbitration Forum ("NAF"), seeking the transfer of the domain names NevyasLasik.com, HerbertNevyasLasik.com, and AnitaNevyasLasik.com.

According to the Complaint, the websites located at the domain names at issue in the proceeding contain "disparaging and false remarks about Complainants" and falsely imply "that they are owned by Complainants, not that they are owned by an individual criticizing Complainants." (Complaint ¶¶5[a]-[b].)

On August 26, 2010, the National Arbitration Forum decided in favor of Drs. Nevyas and Nevyas-Wallace, finding that Morgan's use of the domains was confusingly similar to the Complainants' trademarks, the Respondent had no legitimate interests in the domains, and the domains were used in bad faith. The NAF ordered the domains transferred to the Complainants.

In response to the NAF's finding, Morgan filed a complaint against Drs. Nevyas and Nevyas-Wallace, seeking declaratory action stating that as a result of the NAF decision, the doctors were in violation of the reverse domain name hijacking provisions of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. See Morgan v. Nevyas.

The parties have previously been involved in federal and state court litigation over allegedly defamatory statements made by Morgan about Drs. Nevyas and Nevyas-Wallace.

Related case in state court: Nevyas v. Morgan (state lawsuit)

Related case in federal court: Nevyas v. Morgan II (federal lawsuit).

Nevyases agrees to a consent order giving up their legal claims

Submitted by lasikdecision on Tue, 12/28/2010 - 13:46.

Dominic Morgan established a set of web sites at anitanevyaslasik.com, herbertnevyaslasik.com, and nevyaslasik.com to help call consumers' attention to his dissatisfaction with two Philadelphia-based lasik surgeons who, he believes, botched his lasik surgery and hence damaged his eyesight permanently. The surgeons obtained an administrative decision from the National "Arbitration" Forum that took away his domain names on grounds of trademark infringement. Invoking the many court decisions from around the country that have held that domain names about a trademark holder may use the trademark holder's name, decisions that the NAF panelist refused to consider, Public Citizen is representing Morgan in a declaratory judgment action seeking a ruling that his domain names represent non-commercial free speech, truthfully denoting the topic of his web sites.

After the suit for a declaratory action was filed, the Nevyases lost their taste for enforcing their trademark claims given the changes that had been made to the sites during the UDRP proceedings. The Nevyases agreed to a consent order giving up their legal claims.

The consent order is available at the link below:

http://www.citizen.org/documents/Morgan_v_Nevyas_Consent_Order.pdf

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Nevyas v. Morgan III (UDRP Action)

Nevyases agrees to a consent order giving up their legal claims

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Nevyases agrees to a consent order giving up their legal claims

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