Southern California Regional Rail Authority v. Arkow (Letter) [1]

In January 2008, the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), which operates the regional commuter railway service in southern California known as Metrolink, sent Robert Arkow a cease-and-desist letter regarding Arkow's use of the"Metrolink" trademark in the domain name of his website at "metrolinkrider.com." Arkow, a self-styled consumer advocate, created the website in order to provide a forum for Metrolink users and employees to comment on Metrolink train services and policies.

The letter notified Arkow of the SCRRA's trademark rights in the term "Metrolink" and argued that his use of the mark in the domain name for his website "may infringe upon and/or dilute the strength of [the] mark." The letter asked Arkow to stop using the "Metrolink" mark and gave him four weeks to respond. Arkow responded via email, refusing to discontinue use of the mark and indicating that he had registered another domain name -- "metrolinksucks.com" -- as a fall-back in case the SCRRA initiated legal proceedings over the "metrolinkrider.com" domain.

In March 2008, the SCRRA filed a complaint against Arkow before the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center pursuant to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) [2]. The WIPO panel ultimately dismissed the complaint. For details, see the CMLP database entry, Southern California Regional Rail Authority v. Arkow [3].