PragmaticPlay International Ltd v. Agenpragmaticplay.live

District Court, D. Arizona·Decided January 10, 2024·No. 2:23-cv-00497·Unknown

Opinion

WO

PragmaticPlay International Ltd, No. CV-23-00497-PHX-DLR

Plaintiff, ORDER

v.

Agenpragmaticplay.live, et al.,

Defendants. Plaintiff PragmaticPlay International Ltd. moves for default judgment against eighty-one Defendant Domain Names (collectively “Defendants”), pursuant to Rule 55(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. (Doc. 15). Defendants have not appeared or filed any response. For the reasons discussed below, Plaintiff’s motion for default judgment is granted. I. BACKGROUND1 Plaintiff is a leading developer and provider of mobile and desktop casino games in the online gaming industry. (Doc. 2 ¶¶ 95–96.) In 2014, Plaintiff acquired the domain name PragmaticPlay.com and began publishing gaming content on its website the following year. (¶ 101.) Since 2016, Plaintiff has been actively developing, offering, and supplying a wide range of games under the PRAGMATIC PLAY mark in numerous jurisdictions. (¶ 96.) Plaintiff uses the PRAGMATIC PLAY mark both in plain text (known as a “word mark”)

1 For the purposes of this order, all facts alleged in the Complaint (Doc. 2), except as to damages, are accepted as a true. Geddes v. United Fin. Grp., 559 F.2d 557, 560 (9th Cir. 1977) (“The general rule of law is that upon default the factual allegations of the complaint, except those relating to the amount of damages, will be taken as true.”). and as a stylized form with a design (known as a “composite mark”). (¶ 97.) Plaintiff’s games, which are advertised under these marks, are available to U.S. citizens abroad, and a subset of the games are made available by casino operators in select states within the U.S. in accordance with state and federal laws. (¶ 99.) Plaintiff also actively participates in marketing activities, such as year-round PR campaigns, paid and earned content marketing, paid advertising, and social media use—all of which prominently feature the PRAGMATIC PLAY marks. (¶ 100.) Plaintiff alleges that based on its extensive use and promotion of the PRAGMATIC PLAY marks and the recognition and goodwill the marks have achieved among consumers, the marks are distinctive and/or famous and are entitled to broad common law trademark rights. (¶ 104.) Plaintiff also alleges that it has statutory trademark rights based on its registration of such marks with the Patent and Trademark Office. (¶ 106.) Defendants in this case are eighty-one domain names cybersquatting on Plaintiff’s PRAGMATIC PLAY marks. Plaintiff alleges that each of the Defendant Domain Names incorporates the distinctive PRAGMATIC PLAY mark, either as a standalone second-level domain or as a domain with additions, and that such unauthorized use of Plaintiff’s marks is a clear attempt to capitalize on Plaintiff’s goodwill. (¶¶ 7–87, 107.) Plaintiff further alleges that many of the sites share highly similar content, exploiting Plaintiff’s work and composite marks, as well as other copyright-protected graphics from Plaintiff’s games. (Doc. 9 at 14–28.) On March 23, 2023, Plaintiff filed this in rem action2 against Defendants pursuant to the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (“ACPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d). (Doc. 2 ¶ 1.) The ACPA provides a remedy for cybersquatting when “a person other than the trademark holder registers the domain name of a well known trademark and then attempts to profit from this by . . . using the domain name to divert business from the trademark holder to the domain name holder.” Bosley Med. Inst., Inc. v. Kremer, 403 F.3d 2 Plaintiff has filed additional actions in other courts. See e.g., PragmaticPlay Int’l Ltd. v. 789PragmaticPlay.com, No. 1:23-cv-835 (E.D. Va. July 22, 2022); PragmaticPlay Int’l Ltd. v. Agen-PragmaticPlay.org, No. 1:23-cv-174 (E.D. Va. Feb. 7, 2023). 672, 680 (9th Cir. 2005). The ACPA provides that a trademark holder may file an in rem action against a domain name if the domain name violates any right of the owner of the mark registered in the Patent or Trademark Office or protected under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) or 1125(c). 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)(2). The action may be filed in the judicial district in which the domain name registrar or domain name registry is located. Id. Pursuant to this statute, Plaintiff seeks the transfer of all eighty-one Defendant Domain Names to itself. On March 24, 2023, Plaintiff served notice of its intent to proceed against Defendants in rem through the contact information that registrants of the Defendant Domain Names provided to the domain registrars. (Doc. 9 at 30–37.) Then, on April 4, 2023, Plaintiff filed a motion for an order regarding service, requesting that the Court find service of the Complaint and notice of Plaintiff’s intent to proceed in rem pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)(2)(ii)(II)(aa), as sufficient to accomplish service. (Doc. 9.) On April 5, 2023, the Court granted that motion and ordered Plaintiff to provide a copy of the Complaint and the Order via mail, email, and electronic portal to the registrants of Defendant Domain Names, if the registrants made such contact information publicly available. (Doc. 10.) On April 18, 2023, Plaintiff filed a declaration describing compliance with this Court’s April 5 Order. (Doc. 12.) Defendants were required to answer or otherwise respond by April 26, 2023. No Defendant did so. (Doc. 13.) On May 2, 2023, the Clerk entered default against Defendants. (Doc. 14.) Pending now before the Court is Plaintiff’s motion for default judgment. (Doc. 15.) Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(b) provides that a court may grant default judgment following entry of default by the court clerk. Entry of default judgment is left to the trial court’s discretion. Aldabe v. Aldabe, 616, F.2d 1089, 1092 (9th Cir. 1980). However, before assessing whether default judgment is appropriate, a court must first confirm that is has subject matter jurisdiction over the matter and personal jurisdiction over the parties, as well as ensure the adequacy of service on the defendant. In re Tuli, 172 F.3d 707, 712–13 (9th Cir. 1999). Once these elements are satisfied, a court may consider the following Eitel factors in deciding whether to grant default judgment: (1) the possibility of prejudice to the plaintiff; (2) the merits of the claim; (3) the sufficiency of the complaint; (4) the sum of money at stake; (5) the possibility of factual disputes; (6) whether default is due to excusable neglect; and (7) the policy favoring decisions on the merits. Eitel v. McCool, 782 F.2d 1470, 1471–72 (9th Cir. 1986). In applying the Eitel factors, the Court accepts as true the complaint’s well-pled factual allegations, but the plaintiff has the burden of establishing all damages sought in the complaint. Philip Morris USA Inc. v. Castworld Prod., Inc., 219 F.R.D. 495, 498 (C.D. Cal. 2003). A district court is not required to make detailed finding of fact in granting default judgment. Fair Housing of Marin v. Combs, 285 F.3d 899, 906 (9th Cir. 2002). A. Jurisdiction and Venue This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 because this case involves a federal question arising under the ACPA, 15 U.S.C. §

PragmaticPlay International Ltd v. Agenpragmaticplay.live, (D. Ariz. 2024).

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