## Facts

- Cable News Network L.P., L.L.L.P. owned the well-known CNN trademark, registered in the United States and abroad, and used it for worldwide news and information services.
- A Chinese entity registered the domain name cnnews.com through a system whose registry was located in Virginia and planned to use it for an online news site in Chinese aimed primarily at users in China.
- CNN asserted cnnews.com was confusingly similar to CNN’s mark and filed an in rem action under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) against the domain name in the Eastern District of Virginia.
- CNN provided notice by (i) publishing notice as directed by court order and (ii) sending notice to the registrant at the addresses provided to the registrar (WHOIS information).
- The registrant appeared through counsel and moved to dismiss, challenging jurisdiction, due process, service, and the ability to proceed without joining the registrant as a party, and arguing bad faith must be shown as a jurisdictional predicate.

## Issues

1. Whether due process permits an ACPA in rem action in the forum where the domain-name registry/registrar is located when the foreign registrant lacks traditional minimum contacts with the forum and the website is directed abroad.
2. Whether the ACPA requires proof of bad-faith intent as a jurisdictional prerequisite to maintaining an in rem action.
3. Whether Rule 19 requires joinder of the foreign registrant as a necessary and indispensable party in an ACPA in rem action.
4. Whether notice and service were sufficient when notice was published as ordered and sent to the registrant using the contact information provided to the registrar.

## Decision

- The court denied the motion to dismiss.
- The court held that exercising in rem jurisdiction under the ACPA in the district where the registry/registrar is located is consistent with due process on these facts.
- The court held that bad faith is a substantive element of an ACPA claim, not a jurisdictional requirement for an in rem action.
- The court held the registrant was not an indispensable party whose absence required dismissal.
- The court held notice and service complied with the ACPA and satisfied due process.

## Legal Principles

- An ACPA in rem action may be brought where the domain name’s registrar, registry, or other domain-name authority is located, and the domain name may be treated as located in that forum for jurisdictional purposes.
- Due process can be satisfied in an ACPA in rem action when the registrant deliberately registers and holds a .com domain name through U.S.-based domain-name infrastructure, even if the registrant and primary audience are foreign.
- The ACPA’s bad-faith intent requirement is an element of liability under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)(1), not a threshold jurisdictional gateway to in rem proceedings.
- Rule 19 does not require dismissal of an ACPA in rem action for failure to join the registrant when the statutory scheme is designed to allow relief (transfer or cancellation) against the domain name itself despite the absence of personal jurisdiction over the registrant.
- Notice in an ACPA in rem action is adequate where the plaintiff sends notice to the postal and email addresses provided by the registrant to the registrar and publishes notice as the court directs, meeting constitutional standards of notice reasonably calculated to inform interested parties.

## Conclusion

The court permitted CNN’s ACPA in rem action against cnnews.com to proceed, rejecting constitutional, procedural, and statutory challenges to in rem jurisdiction and notice, and clarifying that bad faith is a merits element rather than a jurisdictional prerequisite.


Cable News Network L.P. v. CNNews.com, 162 F. Supp. 2d 484 (E.D. Va. 2001)