2006

Who is De Beers?

June 2006

According to the New York Post, a fight is breaking out over who owns the name "De Beers" after diamond merchant Marvin Rosenblatt purchased some three-dozen variations of "debeers" as part of Internet domain names under his incorporated firm DeBeers Diamond Syndicate Inc. De Beers sued Rosenblatt for violating the Lanham Act for "unfair competition and trademark dilution."

Rosenblatt incorporated DeBeers Diamond Syndicate in the state of Delaware September 10, 1981. In December 2001 he registered nearly three dozen domain names, and filed (as a trademark) in January 2002 DeBeers Diamond Syndicate.

The De Beers LV trademark application may have made a mistake in laying ownership to the name under "luxury goods." Since Rosenblatt registered it under the name of "diamonds" he could be owner of those domains.