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Pepsi Cries Foul Over Man's Web Site: Tropicanafield.com

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By NATALIE SHEPHERD | News Channel 8

Published: October 17, 2008

For the past seven years, Chris Dunne has owned the rights to tropicanafield.com.

"I'm a huge Rays fan," he said. "I bought the name because I thought it was cool to be part of a baseball team, you know?"

It turns out, though, PepsiCo Beverages and Foods doesn't think it's so cool. Pepsi owns Tropicana Products Inc. The company contacted Dunne in September to get the name back.

"I'm just trying to make some extra money, and then Pepsi contacted me demanding the domain name back," Dunne said.

Dunne received a letter Sept. 18 from Janet Silverberg, chief trademark counsel for PepsiCo. In the letter, Silverberg tells Dunne that "unauthorized use of our trademark constitutes trademark infringement and unfair competition as it may mislead consumers into believing that your site is associated with the stadium or our company."

Dunne, who lives in Dunedin, doesn't have any affiliation with the Rays or St. Petersburg. He started using the Web site in April as an advertising site for local businesses.

"I don't even want to sell it to them. That's not the point of trying to make a bunch of money. I'm just trying to do a legitimate business and help the people of St. Pete," Dunne said.

Dunne started his business after a restaurant he opened failed and his young daughter was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. He said the medical bills now total more than $70,000.

Paul McGrady, a lawyer with the Chicago law firm Greenberg Traurig, sent a letter to Dunne Oct.14, demanding Dunne stop using tropicanafield.com by Oct. 24.

Dunne said he does not have a lawyer and is not sure how he will respond.

Calls to Pepsi's attorneys were not immediately returned.

Largo-based attorney David Ellis, who has written an article about domain names, said Dunne is a "cybersquatter."

"You can't adopt other people's trademarks in your domain name if they have ownership of a trademark and you have no legitimate ownership to it," he said.

Stay with TBO.com for updates.

News Channel 8 reporter Jeff Patterson contributed to this story. Reporter Natalie Shepherd can be reached at (813) 225-2703, or nshepherd@wfla.com.

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