Hearts On Fire sues Blue Nile over trademark
June 25, 2008
By Michelle Graff
Boston—Hearts On Fire is suing
Blue Nile, claiming its use of sponsored Internet search links is diverting customers to the online retailer and that it infringes on the Hearts On Fire trademark and creates unfair competition.
Hearts On Fire wants the court to issue an injunction barring Blue Nile from using the Hearts On Fire trademark and "any confusingly similar designations" as well as requiring Blue Nile to halt its infringement practices, court papers said.
It is also seeking "a judgment of three times its damages and Blue Nile's ill-gotten profits," as well as attorney's fees.
In the lawsuit, filed on June 20 in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, Boston-based Hearts On Fire claims that Blue Nile purchased the search term "Hearts On Fire" from Webcrawler.com, a search engine that searches other search engines.
According to the lawsuit, Seattle-based Blue Nile uses the term "Hearts On Fire" to trigger sponsored links to its Web site, meaning when users at Webcrawler.com type in "Hearts On Fire," one of the top search results is a link to
Bluenile.com.
The link states, "Ideal Cut Diamonds at Blue Nile. Find Hearts On Fire diamonds at Forbes Favorite Online Jeweler. Sponsored by www.bluenile.com," according to the lawsuit.
In addition, when users arrive at Blue Nile's Web site and type "Hearts On Fire" into the site's search engine, they are directed to Web pages selling "diamond and jewelry containing diamonds, none of which are HOF diamonds or jewelry," as Blue Nile is not an authorized retailer of Hearts On Fire diamonds or jewelry, the lawsuit states.
Hearts On Fire also believes Blue Nile may be using its trademark in other keywords, keyword tags, meta tags and sponsored links on the Internet to direct consumers in search of Hearts On Fire diamond jewelry to the Blue Nile Web site.
All of this, the lawsuit states, could cause "confusion, mistake and deception among the general public as to the origin of Blue Nile's goods and/or as to sponsorship by, affiliation with, and/or connection to HOF."
In the lawsuit, Hearts On Fire claims that Blue Nile's conduct, in addition to infringing on a trademark, creates unfair competition and deprives Hearts On Fire of its "exclusive right to control, and benefit from, its trademark."
Hearts On Fire, which first trademarked its name in 1996, sells diamonds and jewelry via its Web site,
Heartsonfire.com, and at authorized retailers all over the world, including more than 600 in the United States.
Blue Nile did not immediately return calls for comment.
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