Florida Power and Lightning company is the largest energy company in the US by retail electricity produced and sold. A subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. the company serves more than $5.6 million customer accounts. The Company owns and operates on the domain name FPL.com.
The company owns the trademark for the ‘FPL’ mark in 6 different categories. The domain name FPL.com has been with them since 1993. However, a domain name started creating problems with the company.
The company complained about a domain name that was very similar to its registered trademarks, used the company’s watermarks and was registered in Bad Faith. The domain name in question here was FPLRateNotice.com.
The domain name at that time showed the company’s watermarks and also had two videos, both talking about the company. The videos criticized the company for increasing their electricity rates. That was the only content on the domain name.
The panel admitted that FPL’s trademark was indeed used in the said domain name. But, the respondent has not gained any monetary benefits. Neither the content of the platform could be termed derogatory. It is critical, but criticizing could not be termed as bad faith. The court finally decided to deny the complaint.
Florida Power and Lightning company remains in the news a lot. The company had been ranked #1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune’s 2020 list of “World’s Most Admired Companies”. The company is an active supporter of the Republican Party as well.
You can read the full case details here.
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