On February 11, 2016, the CAFC issued an errata sheet (here) in connection with its opinion in In re Tam, 117 USPQ2d 1001 (Fed. Cir. 2016). [corrected opinion here]. The court had listed as one of the added benefits enjoyed by a federal trademark registrant is the ability to prevent cybersquatters from misappropriating the mark owner’s domain name under Section 43(d) of the Lanham Act. That was not correct, since a federal registration is not a prerequisite to a cybersquatting action under 43(d).
The CAFC’s errata sheet states:
Please make the following changes:
Page 6, lines 18–19, delete “prevent ‘cybersquatters’ from misappropriating his domain name, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)”.
Page 34, line 37 to page 35, line 2, delete “It cannot prevent ‘cybersquatters’ from misappropriating the mark in a domain name. Id. § 1125(d).”
Perhaps the court should also correct its error (at page 39 of the corrected opinion) where it states that one of the benefits of copyright registration is use of the C-in-a-circle symbol. In fact, any copyright owner may use the C symbol, regardless of whether the copyright has been registered.