Mr. Nowak secured an appellate victory for Automobili Lamborghini SpA when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a ruling that the domain name lambo.com was registered in bad faith under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). The decision reinforces that brand owners can rely on the ACPA to address opportunistic registrations that trade on the goodwill of famous marks.
The case arose after the domain registrant sought a declaratory judgment that his use of lambo.com was lawful. Lamborghini countered that the registration was an attempt to profit from the strength of the Lamborghini mark. Both the district court and the Ninth Circuit agreed, concluding that multiple statutory factors pointed to bad-faith intent.
Background on the lambo.com dispute
The plaintiff registered lambo.com and later claimed that the name was tied to a personal nickname. The courts were not persuaded. Among other things, the record showed that the registrant had no independent intellectual property rights in the term “lambo” and began using it as a nickname only after obtaining the domain. Lamborghini, by contrast, has long used the LAMBORGHINI and LAMBO marks in connection with its luxury sports cars and related merchandise.
The registrant’s conduct following registration also raised red flags. After limited personal use of the site, he sought to sell the domain name for USD $75 million. The district court characterized that demand as “indirectly extortionate,” and the Ninth Circuit agreed that it supported a finding of bad faith under the ACPA.
Ninth Circuit’s analysis under the ACPA
The ACPA focuses on whether a domain was registered with a “bad faith intent to profit” from another party’s mark. The Ninth Circuit examined the statutory factors and held that several weighed heavily in Lamborghini’s favor, including the strength and distinctiveness of Lamborghini’s mark, the registrant’s lack of legitimate rights in the term “lambo,” and his effort to monetize the domain through an outsized sale offer.
The panel acknowledged that some factors cut the other way—for example, the registrant had not been found liable for other instances of cybersquatting and provided accurate contact information for the registration. Those facts, however, were not enough to overcome the evidence showing an intent to capitalize on Lamborghini’s brand.
Takeaways for brand owners and online enforcement teams
The decision underscores how courts may apply the ACPA when a domain name closely tracks a well-known mark and the registrant’s story does not align with the objective record. Claims of personal nicknames or noncommercial use carry less weight when coupled with efforts to sell a domain for an extraordinary price or otherwise leverage the mark’s goodwill.
For brand owners, the case is a reminder that trademark rights extend beyond traditional product channels and into core online identifiers such as domain names. Coordinated enforcement across domains, marketplaces, and social platforms remains critical to protecting high-value brands.
About Nowak IP Group’s role
Nowak IP Group represents leading companies in trademark and online enforcement matters, including disputes involving domain names, marketplaces, and other digital assets. In this case, Mr. Nowak served as counsel for Automobili Lamborghini SpA, helping to secure a result that reinforces the company’s ability to protect its brand against cybersquatting.