That’s My Name, Too: Oakley’s Your Uncle

Case: D2000-1658

Domain(s): oakleyshoes.com, oakleyfootwear.com, oakleywatches.com

Complainant: Oakley, Inc.

Respondent: Kenneth Watson

The Defense:

Our site which is still in development, makes and sells a wide variety of products that range from hand carved wooden shoes, hand made jewelry, bird houses and other hand made crafts that are all hand made by my uncle here in the United States. My Uncle, who has the legally born name Oakley Watson, resides in Fort Pierce Florida. My uncle Oakley Watson happens to share the exact spelling as the Complainant and has as much of a legal right to purchase as many domain names with any variation to his name in it as anyone else that shares the same name. Given the fact my Uncle Oakley and his name has been around for more than 60 years longer than the Complainant, why not then transfer the domain name Oakley to my uncle? However, that is not what we are asking for...