Del Monte International GMBH v. Del Monte Foods, Inc.

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiff-Appellant Del Monte International (“DMI”) appeals the district court’s dismissal pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim of DMI’s lawsuit against Del Monte Foods (“Del Monte”). We hold that the case is moot, and we therefore vacate the district court’s decision and remand with instructions to dismiss the complaint without prejudice.

This lawsuit arose following a dispute between DMI and Del Monte over DMI’s application for the Top Level Domain name (“TLD”) <.delmonte>. As alleged in the Complaint, after DMI filed its application for the TLD with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”), Del Monte filed a Legal Rights Objection (“LRO”) asserting that the applied-for TLD would impinge upon its trademark rights. A panel from the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) held that Del Monte’s objection should be sustained. ICANN, the entity responsible for administering the TLD program, accepted WIPO’s determination and denied DMI the TLD <.delmonte>. DMI then filed suit in district court against Del Monte requesting injunctive relief in the form of an order compelling Del Monte to…