The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina entered judgment on March 14 against a search engine optimization firm based on the company's role in helping to create and host a website used to market counterfeit golf clubs. The plaintiff in the case, Roger Cleveland Golf Company, had alleged that the defendant, Bright Builders, knew or should have known that it was hosting and otherwise helping to market a site (under the not-so-subtle domain copycatclubs.com) that was being used illegally to infringe the plaintiff's trademarks, and that Bright Builders should be held liable for damages even without having received actual notice of infringement. "SEO companies and web hosts need to pay close attention to the outcome in this case," says Christopher Barnett, an attorney with Scott & Scott, LLP. "There is no equivalent under U.S. trademark law to the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA in the copyright arena, which means that aggrieved trademark owners do not have to make ISPs aware of trademark infringements before filing suit. The disparate damages awards in this case ($770,750 against Bright Builders, compared to $28,250 against the site owner) should serve as strong incentive for ISPs to maintain a reasonable level of awareness regarding how their services are being used." For more information, please contact Mr. Barnett at 800-596-6176, or cbarnett@scottandscottllp.com.