Laddawn, Inc. et al. v. Bolduc (17-cv-11044).

In 2017, plastic bag and packaging maker Laddawn and its owner Ladd Lavallee sued former Laddawn employee Marc Bolduc for cybersquatting and defamation. Bolduc had been Laddawn 2019s network administrator since 1999, and is alleged to have kept information pertaining to Laddawn 2019s network secret from Laddawn personnel. His performance allegedly devolved over the years to the point that he was terminated in 2015. Laddawn asserts that Bolduc has password-protected its data backup and refused to turn over the passwords, and that following his termination he began a pattern of harassment of Laddawn and its employees. As a part of this, Laddawn asserts that Bolduc registered a number of domain names utilizing the federally-registered 201cLADDAWN 201d mark and made them available for sale 201cto the highest bidder. 201d
In the ensuing litigation, Bolduc repeatedly failed to comply with deadlines and discovery orders, resulting in the entry of default judgment against him. Judge Hillman has now awarded damages and costs and entered a permanent injunction. He found that Laddawn had demonstrated bad faith in Bolduc 2019s registration of the domain names 2013 Bolduc testified at deposition that he had no intellectual property rights in the names registered, did not use the sites to offer goods or services, and registered the names solely to sell them for financial gain. He awarded $3000 per name in statutory damages, for a total of $24,000. He also awarded $100,000 in damages for defamation, and enjoined Bolduc from further acts of defamation or cybersquatting.