Toy retailer takes on Toysrgus.com
Gus Lopez is a Star Wars' toy collector who thought he had a clever idea for a Web site, but retailing giant Toys "R" Us disagreed.
Lawyers for Toys "R" Us have sent a "cease and desist" letter to Lopez over his Toysrgus.com Web site. It is the latest example of a domain-name dispute on the Web.
Toys "R" Us contends Lopez's site, which for nearly five years housed his Star Wars Collector's archive, infringes on its trademark.
"Your use of Toysrgus.com is an infringement of our client's rights under federal and state laws," lawyers for Toys "R" Us wrote in a letter, citing the Federal Trademark Dilution Act. "In particular, customers are likely to believe that your business is owned, licensed, sponsored, or in some way connected to our client's business."
Toys "R" Us, which owns several "'R' Us" trademarks, also owns domain names such as Kidsrus.com, Boysrus.com, and Dollsrus.com.
The letter called for Lopez to shut down the site and delete the domain name from the InterNIC registry.
Lopez closed the Star Wars archive yesterday and appears to be willing to cooperate with the retail toy store.
"We may be back at some point [perhaps under a new domain] if this legal matter is resolved," reads a message on the site. "My hope is that this domain name dispute will be resolved swiftly, but it's hard to predict. It has been a wonderful past few years, and I wish everyone the best of luck in their collecting endeavers (sic)."
Earlier this month, Archie Comics and the Sams family battled over the use of Veronica.org, a site named after David Sams' 2-year-old daughter. Archie has since dropped the suit. Similarly, Net directory Yahoo called for an end to Yahooka.com, a parody site that provided a search directory on marijuana.
Executives at Toys "R" Us' Paramus, New Jersey-based headquarters could not be reached for comment. The attorney handling the case at Darby & Darby also could not be reached.
Toys "R" Us, with almost 1,500 stores worldwide, had third quarter revenue of nearly $2.2 billion.