MINNEAPOLIS (BRAIN) — A court has issued a temporary restraining order barring two Minnesota men from using, selling, or transferring websites associated with the name Gregory LeMond and the LeMond and Grail trademarks.
Greg LeMond filed suit in the U.S. District Court here on June 15, charging that Frederick Harold Stinchfield II and Frederick Harold Stinchfield III were "cybersquatting" on at least 66 domains that infringed on LeMond trademarks. He is demanding $6.6 million in damages and compensation.
The Stinchfields registered the names last fall. They include variations on the words LeMond and Grail, which is a trademark LeMond Composites uses for its products. The domains include lemond.news, greglemondgonewild.com, lemondautomotive.com and lemondtechnologies.org, among others.
According to the complaint, the Stinchfields also built a site that contains "derogatory information about LeMond and his businesses," as well as his name and photo. The site also has advertisements.
LeMond asked the court to order the Stinchfields to remove the site and bar them from selling or transferring any of the 66 domains.
On June 21 the court issued the order barring the Stinchfield from selling or transferring the domains or from registering any others with terms related to LeMond. However, the court did not order the Stinchfields to remove the website, which remained functional Tuesday morning.
According to the suit, the Stinchfields have registered various other domains related to public figures, including Anthony Weiner and Rihanna.
