Activision proved that the modernwarfare3.com domain was identical or similar enough to one of its trademarks so as to cause confusion and to establish that the domain was registered in bad faith.

Battlefield 3 fan Anthony Abraham, who owned the domain, was found to have no legitimate interests with respect to the domain. Abraham used the domain to spread the gospel of Battlefield 3 and to redirect users to the official Battlefield 3 site.

Abraham’s argument that “modern warfare” was a generic term didn’t fly with the court, and despite what many had thought, Electronic Arts had no involvement in the domain or where it was pointing. Abraham’s registrar in this case was GoDaddy, who (despite the fact that he paid for a private registration) made the registry information public when Activision complained to GoDaddy. This is apparently common among registrars when a situation like this arises.

In the end, Activision was able to seize control of the domain name; and despite the confusion that it caused it was interesting to watch it play out nonetheless. Let’s hope that EA and DICE send Abraham a free copy of Battlefield 3 and some BF3 swag for the all of the traffic he redirected to them. It is amusing how far some fans will go to create chaos.