Certification Trendz, LTD et al v. Kashif Rashid et al

    DisputeSoft was engaged as a software expert in July 2016 by Certification Trendz in the online trademark infringement matter of Certification Trendz, LTD et al. v. Kashif Rashid et al. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

    Plaintiffs Certification Trendz, Ltd. (Trendz) and FreeTech Services, Ltd. (FreeTech) provided IT certification test preparation materials including study guides, practice questions, and audio exams. Trendz and FreeTech alleged that individuals and corporations operating out of the United Kingdom and Pakistan used their “Test King” and “Pass4sure” marks to register 36 similarly named website domains and sell competing products on websites hosted at those domains.

    Our Services

    As a software expert, DisputeSoft:

    1
    Determined whether the defendants were in control of the domains through identification of website Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and use of the WHOIS service to ascertain domain registration information including owner names, addresses, and email addresses.
    2
    Investigated the duration and extent to which the defendants utilized the Test King and Pass4sure marks. Used the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to gather historical information pertaining to the websites.
    3
    Reviewed HTML, metadata, and web traffic rankings to assess whether the defendants used the marks to direct traffic to their website.

    Manager Tom Ashley proffered a declaration summarizing his findings regarding common ownership of the domains, the number of unauthorized uses of the Test King and Pass4sure marks, and infringing materials sold on the websites. Tom attended a hearing in support of the plaintiff’s successful motion for a Temporary Restraining Order against the defendants. The case subsequently settled.

    Tom Ashley

    Senior Manager & Forensic Examiner

    Tom Ashley applies his expertise in a wide range of software-related matters, including copyright and patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and system implementation failure disputes. Tom has significant experience with software project failure cases, including conducting in-depth investigations of various issues of fact in software failure disputes, such as requirements elaboration, requirements traceability, test planning and execution, defect remediation, and project planning and scheduling.

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