New Vision Pharmaceuticals filed suit in the Southern District of Florida Thursday after defendant Bio Dose Pharma’s alleged “bad faith registration and use of the domain name www.glutadose.com.” The practice, known as cybersquatting, purportedly violates New Vision’s trademark rights.
According to the complaint, New Vision was formed earlier this year from assets acquired from bankrupt Unipharma LLC. New Vision now controls the trademarks and business for dietary supplements known as Glutadose, filings state. The plaintiff alleged that Unipharm and the defendant, BioDose, were controlled by the same individual (also a defendant) and that BioDose retailed Unipharm’s products, including Glutadose.
The dispute arose as a result of Unipharma’s pre-reorganization trademark license agreement with BioDose, which the plaintiff says is “silent” on domain name registration. After New Visiona acquired Glutadose and its trademark from Unipharm, they stopped working with BioDose, the complaint said.
Despite this, the complaint said that the www.glutadose.com website directed to BioDose’s site as recently as July. The complaint recounted that while BioDose has said they would transfer the domain name in correspondence, they have failed to do so at the time of filing.
The plaintiffs charge the defendants with violations of the Federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, and are seeking an injunction, transfer of the domain name, damages, and costs. They are represented by Berger Singerman LLP.
