Owners of three and four character domain names win UDRP decisions.
Owning short domain names comes with risks. They are prized domains, and many people want to get their hands on them. The owner of Ace.com recently won its case, but the assaults continue. Here are several recent cases that domain owners managed to win.
ANU.com
In this case, a company you’ve probably never heard of — Anu Enterprises — went after domain owner DomainRegistry.com.
Anu Enterprises stated “Respondent probably acquired the disputed domain name because Respondent wanted to capitalize on the fact that many companies around the world used the mark ANU. The Respondent can be found to have been acting in bad faith even if its actions are outside the circumstances listed in the Policy.”
That’s an interest complaint, because it basically states that many other companies should have rights to the domain name, too.
The panel found that the owner registered the domain in 1999, well before Anu Enterprises received any common law trademark rights to the domain and before it filed for a trademark. But it wouldn’t find Anu Enterprises guilty of reverse domain hijacking.
BDSI.com
BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. tried to get the four character domain name BDSI.com. But it failed to prove any of the three requirements to win. The domain owner is HLK Enterprises, Inc.
The panel made good observations about generic and short acronym domain names, as well as domain parking, which should be music to domain owners’ ears:
However, based on the fact that the disputed domain name and Complainant’s mark contain only four letters that could stand for many things unrelated to Complainant’s business, the Panel finds that Respondent’s use of the disputed domain name as a portal website is a showing of rights or legitimate interests under Policy…As discussed in the previous section, the disputed domain name and the asserted mark are comprised of generic and common terms. The four letters that create the asserted mark and the disputed domain name could stand for many things that do not interfere with Complainant’s business.
XOFT.COM
Xoft Inc. lost its challenge for Xoft.com, owned by Frank Schilling’s company. Interestingly, Schilling’s Name Administration used the defense that xoft.com implies “soft porn”.
The panel found that the domain registration predated Xoft Inc.’s trademark and use of the domain.
What further frustrates Complainant’s claim to superior rights is its previous abandonment of two trademark applications for XOFT on August 20, 2003, and again on May 13, 2004. Even if Respondent had known of Complainant’s pending trademark application when it filed the disputed domain name, which Respondent denies, it would have been reasonable to suspect that Complainant might again be unable to maintain the application, quite possibly for lack of commercial use.
Name Administration bought the domain through an expired domain auction.
OTHERS
Here are a couple other cases of interest. An Italian Bank went after MPS.mobi and lost. Avio.com was also held onto by its owner.
DR. DOMAIN says
I have a handful of 4letter domains.Bought them early on before I knew what the deal was about scarcity.
Off topic just a tad.I’ve begun parking a handful of my domains with EVO-LANDING.Anybody got any scoop on whether that works?
Andrew says
@ Dr. Domain – I’ll be writing a follow up review of EVOlanding soon.
Fat Lester says
This is clearly very good news for the domain industry. However, I don’t expect overzealous thugs to stop trying to commandeer domain names via intimidation and legal proceedings. As an industry, we must prepare for a long, difficult fight.
We should adjust our definition of victory for these cases to include having the judge order the complainant to pay for both parties’ court costs and legal fees. Until this happens, these bullies will continue to harass companies whom they speculate a legal battle may be prohibitively expensive.
Sean says
I bought 1dn1.com simply because I though I might generate interest in using it as a domain name suggestion service.
I think i may have gotten lucky.