Last year, a physician seeking to refer a potential refractive surgery patient to the Ocean Eye Institute in Toms River, N.J., typed in the Internet address OceanEyeInstitute.com and was surprised to see that the link brought up the name of a competing Toms River ophthalmology practice.

Doctors at Ocean Eye Institute immediately contacted Wolff & Samson, a law firm in Roseland, N.J.

"The competitor had not only registered OceanEyeInstitute.com, he also registered the last names of two of Ocean Eye's ophthalmologists," says Adam Derman, a partner at Wolff & Samson specializing in intellectual property litigation.

Derman immediately filed a complaint in federal court asking for a preliminary injunction to prevent the competitor from using any names or trademarks associated with Ocean Eye Institute.

"We based our case on trademark law and federal anti-cybersquatting legislation passed by Congress in 1999," notes Derman. "

Though the competitor quickly agreed to stop using the names, Derman continued to pursue the case, and in November the competitor agreed to "return" the names and pay all of Ocean Eye Institute's legal fees.

"We don't know how much business Ocean Eye Institute lost as a result of this trick," says Derman. "But it should alert every medical practice that these things do happen. If you don't have your practice name registered, check to see if someone else has it."