Internet Library of Law
and Court Decisions

Robert Lewis, et al. v. Rocky Mountains Internet and Colorado Rockies Baseball Club, Ltd.

Plaintiffs operated a website at "rockies.com" which featured an electronic publication entitled "The Daily Colorado Rockies Web." On this site, a user could find a number of baseball related items, including copyrighted publications belonging to defendant, owners of the Colorado Rockies baseball team, as well as defendant's federal trademark and logo. In addition, the web site contained links to a site purporting to sell "official Rockies Merchandise" and provided means of contacting Colorado Rockies baseball players.

When plaintiffs refused to discontinue their use of defendant's "Rockies" trademark in this fashion, defendant moved for injunctive relief, charging that plaintiffs' conduct constituted trademark infringement and unfair competition and was likely to dilute defendant's famous mark. The Court agreed and granted defendants' request for injunctive relief.

In reaching this conclusion, the court found that plaintiffs' activities were intended to, would and did cause confusion among Internet users. The injunctive relief awarded included a prohibition against plaintiffs' use of defendant's trademark in meta tags.